


a christmas miracle

by tkreyesevandiaz



Series: a christmas miracle [1]
Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Christmas Presents, Cross-Posted on Tumblr, Emotional Eddie Diaz, F/M, Family Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Future Fic, How Do I Tag, I can't spoil this, Idiots in Love, Implied Sexual Content, Insecure Evan "Buck" Buckley, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Miscommunication, Pining, Pre-Relationship, Realizations, Sad Evan "Buck" Buckley, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Tumblr Prompt, pure fluff chapter 2 onwards though, there's a lot going on
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-03
Updated: 2020-05-01
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:07:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 38,347
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23458303
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tkreyesevandiaz/pseuds/tkreyesevandiaz
Summary: The 118 are discussing their plans for the holidays, but Eddie's plan has Buck reeling with hurt.
Relationships: Christopher Diaz & Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV), Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV)/Ana Flores, Evan "Buck" Buckley & Christopher Diaz & Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV), Evan "Buck" Buckley & Firehouse 118 Crew, Evan "Buck" Buckley/Eddie Diaz, Evan "Buck" Buckley/Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV), Evan “Buck” Buckley/Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV)
Series: a christmas miracle [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1725769
Comments: 336
Kudos: 1195





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, I'm aware it's April.
> 
> This prompt came from @haderofthesociety on Tumblr! (let's hope I can format this HTML properly) [Original Prompt Post](https://haderofthesociety.tumblr.com/post/613962136172003328/please-someone-write-this-so-its-christmas-at-the)
> 
> Hopefully that worked. ANYWAY! I've given all the fluff here, and this got so away from me, it's not funny. Also, I've trying to stick to the prompt but I switched a few things, I hope you like it!
> 
> Enjoy it!
> 
>  **Edit:** A previous version of this fic was rated "G" but because of implied sexual content later in the fic, it has changed to "T".

“There is no way I’m going anywhere this Christmas. Denny still hasn’t forgiven me for last year, and with Nia in the mix? Not a chance,” Hen said, tossing an apple lazily. "I want to be able to spend some quality time with my family."

It was a rare minute around the station, where they’d actually gotten to eat, and were now finished with all the chores. They never took those minutes for granted, since they could sit quietly and talk to each other for once.

“But we made sure you could spend Christmas with your families last year,” Buck pointed out, snatching the apple mid-air and taking a huge bite out of it. Hen glared at him but waved his words off.

“And we will never forget it, but it still isn’t the same. It’s rare that we get Christmas off to begin with,” Bobby added. 

“We won’t forget because Buck won’t let us forget it,” Eddie teased, nudging his best friend where he was now perched on the armrest of the sofa Eddie was sitting on. 

Buck simply glared at him as he chewed his apple, knowing that was a lie. He hadn’t brought it up a single time, because truth be told, it had been Athena to organize everything. Short of complaining that Bobby was ordering takeout on _Christmas_ , he hadn’t really done anything. They’d been busy on a call, so really, his role had been minuscule. There was no need for him to drag it out.

“Face it, Buckaroo, we’re going to end up playing another game of poker where Maddie’s going to beat your ass and we’ll be faced with your pouting all night,” Chimney pitched in, plopping down on the sofa with a bottle of water.

“That would only be possible if you weren’t taking Maddie out of town.” Buck looked pointedly at his future brother-in-law. Maddie and Chimney had gotten engaged in September, and since then, their shifts had rarely matched up. With the Christmas break looming, the two had planned their first getaway.

Chim flushed red and shrugged. “I didn’t know Maddie had already told you.” Buck waved it off, knowing he was worried about Buck not having his sister on Christmas.

“I don’t mind, Chim. Really, you two deserve the time off.” He didn’t have to warn Chim to treat Maddie right, because he knew the man would die before hurting her. Chim doted on her like she deserved to be cared for and that was all Buck could really ask for. Despite it, out of tradition, he’d still had the shovel talk with him when they’d gotten engaged. 

“What’s the Grant-Nash household doing for Christmas?” Hen asked Bobby, who looked pained at the question.

“Hosting Athena and Michael’s parents. Together.” Laughter resonated around the station. Athena’s mom had barely warmed to Bobby, though her dad adored the captain. With Michael’s parents in the mix, there was bound to be no boring moment.

“Well, best of luck to you with that.”

“May’s coming back from college on Friday, so there’s that, at least,” Bobby smiled. Buck perked up at that. That was just in time for Christmas in two weeks.

“Who’s going to pick her up?” Eddie asked. The entire 118 was excited to see her back after her first semester in college.

“We haven’t decided yet. Both of us are working when her flight lands, and we don’t want to send Michael to the airport alone.” It’d been a year since his diagnosis, and while the radiation therapy was working, Athena and Bobby were still worried about him doing things like driving.

“I can pick her up, if I’m not working,” Buck volunteered. Hen studied him quietly. He was always the first to offer if anyone needed anything, but even all these months later, still had trouble asking for help if he needed it. 

“We’d appreciate that, thank you,” Bobby smiled gratefully at Buck, a flush spreading across the younger man’s face. Hen noted with a frown how Buck tried to make himself smaller at the compliment.

She resolved to talk to him about it next time she spoke to him.

Ever since Buck had come back from the lawsuit, he and Hen had gotten extremely close. There were countless days where Buck babysat Nia and Denny for them, or where Hen tagged along to Buck’s appointments where Maddie or Eddie couldn’t. She was grateful for this new relationship in her life, because it was like having the younger brother she’d always wanted.

And Buck was always there for them in the same capacity.

“What about you, Eddie? What are you and Christopher doing for the holidays?” Buck asked, peering down at his friend. 

“Christopher wants to go to Santa this year, since we didn’t get to last year.” The memory made Buck smile, of seeing Christopher perched on Santa’s lap. He remembered how conflicted Eddie had been back then, the two of them sitting in front of that fountain in City Square.

But what he remembered clear as day, was that elf telling him that they had an adorable son.

The words had kick-started Buck’s reflection over a lot of things, because she sure wasn’t the first to note them as a couple. There had been those viewers in the maggot-lady’s live blog, the man they’d rescued from a wedding a few months back, and most recently, a wistful old lady who was reminiscing of her own life with her wife. And that was only three people.

Buck had never sought to dispel the misconception, and he wasn’t quite sure if Eddie had heard them or anything, but either way, they’d never talked about it. And so Buck didn’t bring it up either. He had far more to lose if he went and screwed this up; he wouldn’t bear having Christopher and Eddie were yanked from his life again.

The kid and his dad inspired Buck every single day, and one of the first times Buck had seen the boy in that motivating action had been during that Christmas two years ago.

Just as Buck went to say as much, Eddie’s next words made his blood run cold. “I was thinking of inviting Ana to come with us.”

Reality crashed around him, large splinters embedding themselves in the bruised flesh of Buck’s heart. Buck couldn’t breathe around the devastation that crushed him at the words. But Eddie was still looking up at him, although a little confused at how suddenly Buck’s smile dropped at the sound of Christopher’s teacher.

Quickly, he schooled his expression into a joyful one, the mask he’d perfected after all these weeks of consciously loving Eddie quietly. A love he kept to himself only, too pure to expose to how cruel the world was to him.

“Who’s Ana?” Chim asked, flattening his now-empty bottle.

“Ms. Flores. She was Christopher’s teacher last year, but I ran into her again at the beginning of the school year meetings. We’ve been trying it out. We didn’t want to risk it while she was still teaching his class.”

Buck hadn’t known that it had gotten so serious. He’d known that Eddie was seeing her, obviously, but perhaps it was wishful thinking, but Eddie hadn’t seemed so into her.

Not enough to introduce her to Christopher as a potential _partner_.

Clearly, he’d been mistaken.

“So you’re ready to bring her into Christopher’s life?” Hen asked the question that was on everybody’s mind. While her skeptical words were directed at Eddie, her gaze stayed on Buck. Buck, who was keeping that faux-smile on his face but whose hands were clutching at the armrest tightly. Any harder than that and he’d tear the fabric from the cushion.

She’d known about Buck’s feelings for Eddie since that day in the grocery store, where Buck had looked shattered at the force of Eddie’s anger for him. The way Buck had yielded immediately at the sound of Christopher’s name.

The way only a parent could do for their child. 

There’d never been a time to bring it up, but in recent times, Buck had confessed it to her, once. He’d never brought it up again.

Now she understood why. The teacher again.

“Is this the teacher that you bit the head off of?” Bobby asked, gaze surreptitiously flitting between Buck and Eddie. The captain didn't miss anything, but even a blind person would be able to tell the unyielding chemistry between Buck and Eddie. It was the sort of thing that was written about in romance novels.

Eddie rolled his eyes at the memory of how Bobby had gotten to know, but nodded all the same. “Yeah, actually. I really like her, and I want her and Chris to get along. Might as well take a shot at Christmas.”

Through the roaring in his ears, Buck missed whatever Chim had said. With each word, his mask slipped, bits and pieces of his anguish shining through. If he didn’t take a second to compose himself, he’d reveal everything. There was no way he could just leave this specific conversation without it seeming suspicious, not when he wore his heart on his sleeve.

“Buck, grab me an apple, since you stole mine.” Hen, once again, saved him. She put mirth in her voice, but Buck knew that she just wanted to get him away from the conversation. Hen was insightful like that.

“It was in the air, that’s free game,” Buck retorted but sent her a thankful smile as he made an escape to the kitchen. 

He breathed through the heartbreak and fear that closed a fist around his gut. With Ana stepping more and more into Eddie’s life, and now Christopher’s, that meant that Buck would have to step out. Because even if Eddie didn’t ask him of it, he wasn’t strong enough to pretend that seeing him with Ana wouldn’t break his heart. He’d be overstepping in their lives if he was around all the time.

But he thought he’d get to have at least this for himself. He thought that taking Christopher to City Square to see Santa was their thing, a piece of the Diaz family that was all Buck’s. It was kind of stupid to think that, seeing as they’d only gone once, but even last year, Eddie had asked him to tag along.

Of course, that was before they were scheduled to work, but nevertheless, Buck hadn’t realized how wrong he was about assuming his place in the Diaz household.

Blessedly, the alarm rang before he had to go back and face the team with another mask. He tossed the apple to Hen on the way down, her squeezing his arm in a show of comfort as she turned to the ambulance.

Even if his heart was ripping apart at the seams, he was content with the caring friends that surrounded him. With a new sense of resolve of what he needed to do, Buck climbed into the truck, throwing out smiles and laughs like he normally did.

If that smile didn’t reach his eyes, well, no one was the wiser.

* * *

Over the next few days leading up to Christmas, Buck worked on trying to pull himself out of how much time he spent over at the Diaz’s household. He kept the goal as inconspicuous as he could, even though looking at Eddie _hurt._

It was stupid, really. Eddie hadn’t promised him anything, and Buck wasn’t even sure he liked men to begin with. Even though he had tried his hardest not to let it, his feelings had gotten in the way of his and Eddie’s friendship.

He didn’t stay the night anymore, preferring to leave as soon as Christopher was in bed. Even if Chris requested Buck to make waffles in the morning, he left and came back in the morning.

Staying at Eddie’s place now seemed more like he was intruding, now that Buck knew what Eddie’s intentions were with Ana. Even if things hadn’t progressed quite that far.

Buck also stopped using his key to let himself in. He knocked, like every other guest that came there, played the best friend part as well as he could, but the second he closed the door to his own apartment, he was breaking down against the wood.

It wasn’t Eddie’s fault Buck loved him so much. 

Normally, Eddie would’ve noted Buck trying to pull himself away. But currently, he was so blindsided by trying to figure out the best way to get Ana and Christopher to meet, that he wasn’t paying attention to him.

But Hen was.

“You don’t have to pull away from him, Buck. He hasn’t, and won’t, ever ask you to do so,” Hen had said, one morning that Eddie wasn’t working.

“I’m not doing it for him. I’m doing it for me,” He’d answered. 

It had been true. He may have started doing it so Eddie’s girlfriend didn’t think his best friend was monopolizing Eddie’s time, but deep down, he knew that he was doing it for selfish reasons. 

His heart hurt every time he saw the content look on Eddie’s face when he came back from one of his dates, and he felt like a bastard every single time. How had he come to resent his best friend’s happiness, when he’d wished for it all along?

Eddie had been through a lot in the past few years, and even more so in the almost-three years Buck had known him. If anyone deserved to have that love and happiness, it was him, and Buck knew this with every fiber of his being. But deep inside, in a horrible part of him, Buck knew that he’d always wanted Eddie to have that happiness with him.

That was a part of him Buck locked in a box and never let out again.

It was during one of these date nights, the one right before Christmas, that Buck’s distancing came up. Naturally, it had to be Christopher who noticed. 

Buck had volunteered to watch Chris tonight instead of Carla, so he could get some time with the little man. Broken heart or not, Buck refused to let his relationship with Christopher suffer.

“Hey, Buck?” Chris asked as they lounged on the sofa, watching _Aladdin_. The kid was cuddled into his side completely, not an inch separating the two of them.

“Yeah, buddy?”

“Why don’t you stay the night anymore?” Buck blinked at him, not having an answer. He didn’t know that Chris had noticed. He made it a point to be back at the Diaz house before Chris woke up, the only time he used his key anymore. The entire time he’d known, and could Buck really hate himself anymore than this?

He scrambled through his mind for a reasonable answer. “I just thought that I have an apartment I pay for. Better use it too.” 

“You should just stay here. I like it better when you’re here with me and Daddy,” Chris said with the innocence that only kids seemed to muster; the one that stole the breath out of Buck’s lungs every time. 

He swallowed around the lump in his throat, but managed to make a lighthearted joke. “I like it too, but my back is breaking on this sofa!” 

He distracted the boy with a fit of tickles, but his question rang in Buck’s mind all while the movie finished, while he got Christopher ready for bed, while he tucked the boy in.

He was still pondering the question when Eddie came back, staring blankly at the now-blank TV.

Was it really worth this? This...distance that had been growing between him and Eddie since he’d started going out with Ana. Could he not just suck it up for a few hours a day, and milk whatever the Diaz boys could give him?

That sounded suspiciously like Buck had an inherent right to Eddie’s time, which was wrong in so many ways.

“Buck?” He nearly jumped out of his skin at the sound of Eddie’s voice. “Whoa, hey, it’s just me.”

Eddie looked...delectable. Dressed simply in a white sweater and black slacks, with his hair gelled up and spicy cologne that Buck could scent from where he was sitting, he looked amazing. And it wasn’t for him. 

Buck stomped on the monster of jealousy that threatened to take over his rationale.

“How’d it go? Chris was okay?”

“Yeah, as always. We ate dinner, watched a movie and then I tucked him in.” Buck stood up, ready to leave. He palmed his phone and picked up the now-empty bowl of popcorn to carry to the kitchen.

“What do you think of me taking Ana to bond with Chris?” Eddie’s question froze him in place, a new sort of torture. 

Forcing himself to play it cool, he dropped that very familiar mask over his crushed expression and turned to his best friend. Eddie looked nervous, his eyes darting everywhere and his fingers fiddling with his jacket.

Seeing Eddie look so conflicted overrode all the agony Buck had been through in the past few days. Suddenly, the only thing he could think of was comforting his friend. “Why does it matter what I think?”

The words weren’t antagonizing; Buck posed it as a simple question.

“Because I need your advice.” They’d had countless discussions on multiple topics, but this was the first time that Eddie had outright asked for Buck’s opinion about his _love life_. 

“Look, Eddie. You know your kid better than I do. If you think that you’re ready to let someone in your life as a life partner, and you’re ready to let that person in Christopher’s life in that capacity, then you must be.”

“I still want to know. Sometimes, it feels like you know Chris and I better than I do.”

“That’s not true, don’t be silly.” Buck waved him off, and gestured for him to sit down. He filled a glass of water and passed it to Eddie. “There isn’t much else I can say, Eddie. But maybe, instead of springing this on them last minute, talk to Ana and Chris. See if Ana’s ready to step in, and see if Christopher’s ready to see you with someone that’s not Shannon.”

Communication had never been Eddie’s strong suit, and Buck knew it. But he also knew that his friend was working on it, through all those therapy lessons with Frank. 

Buck hesitated before asking Eddie, “Are _you_ ready to completely move on from Shannon?”

Eddie picked at the glass with his nails, pondering Buck’s question. Buck almost feared the answer. “I think I am. I mean, I’ll always love her, and that’ll never change. Anyone I get involved with is going to know the score when it comes to Shannon and I. But for me, right now, Christopher is my biggest priority. I don’t know how far this thing with Ana and I is going to go, but I think I want it to go a long way. And I’m a package deal.

“The thing with Ana is that she knows that. She already knew I had a son, and I’m a widow.” The word jolted Buck in place. He hadn’t heard Eddie call himself that before, but he supposed it was true. Still, he didn’t quite like the way Eddie had said it. “And she doesn’t expect me to put her before that - which is why I really like her.”

“Do you love her?” Buck dared to ask, steeling his heart against the answer.

“I don’t know. Not yet, I guess. I don’t think I can fully love anyone without seeing them with Christopher, you know?”

“You’ll figure it out, Eddie. Don’t stress it. Just talk to them.” Buck got up and hugged Eddie before turning to leave.

He almost didn’t dare touch the man, afraid of what his skin would show. Afraid that the love Buck had given Eddie and Christopher so freely would be branded on his skin, for everyone to see. Afraid of what his touch would tell Eddie about the secrets Buck had been hiding in his heart. 

“Where are you going?” Eddie called out.

“Home?” Buck asked, jerking a thumb towards his Jeep.

“You could just stay the night, Buck. It’s late.” Eddie glanced over at the clock that now read 11:00pm. 

“Nah, it’s alright. I’m gonna get home. I’ll see you at work tomorrow,” Buck declined, suddenly needing to leave as fast as his legs would take him.

“Buck-” Eddie’s call was cut off by the door shutting softly behind him. He breathed out from the pain that lightened his chest. 

His phone lit up as he fastened his seat belt. 

**Eddie:** Let me know when you get home.

Without fail, Eddie always asked to know if Buck got back safely, even through his disapproval of Buck not staying the night. By now, it was obvious what Buck was trying to do. He looked haggard, and his smile rarely met his eyes these days.

When Buck got back, he sent Eddie a simple one-word message as he looked around his apartment.

 **Buck:** Home.

His apartment didn’t have a fireplace, so instead, Buck and Christopher had hung their stockings from the window closest to the kitchen, in plain view from everywhere around the apartment, including his loft. 

Before, he hadn’t even bothered with the tradition, but once Christopher learned that, he’d been appalled at Buck’s audacity, and had taken it upon himself to craft three stockings with his, Eddie’s and Buck’s names on them. Buck had proudly hung them, Christopher’s stocking already fit to burst. There was something in Eddie’s too, for the next time they came over after Christmas.

The next project Christopher undertook was making Buck’s apartment look like Christmas threw up in it. There was tinsel everywhere, and Christopher had made handmade ornaments that Buck had helped him hang from the walls. They’d strung whatever lights Buck dug up from storage, and had made a Christmas corner, instead of a tree. God knows it would’ve been hell to get a tree into a fourth floor apartment. Christopher’s presents from him were all wrapped and stacked in the corner, a tall pile of boxes that cast menacing shadows in the multi-coloured lights. 

He could feel the pressure of tears behind his eyes as he looked at the bright decorations. A way to honor a family that Buck wasn’t sure he had really been a part of. 

Buck stood there in the dimly lit room, wondering if he was overreacting. It wasn’t like Eddie was about to get down on a knee and propose to her.

Introducing her as a partner to Christopher though...that was a big deal. That too at the City Square Santa event. Buck couldn’t help but feel that something had been taken from him.

He shook his head of those thoughts as he climbed the stairs to his bed. There was no use mulling on it, not when it wouldn’t make a difference.

* * *

“So, what would you say if I asked you to come see Santa with Chris and I?” Eddie spoke into the receiver, moving around his kitchen idly. He held his breath as he waited for Ana’s answer.

“Is...is this what I think it is?”

“Depends on what you think it is.” She wasn’t running for the hills, so Eddie supposed that had to be a good thing.

They hadn’t officially called whatever they were doing anything; they were just going out. He supposed that after four months of dates, there wasn’t really a doubt, even if they hadn’t slept together. They’d just preferred not to label it.

“Are you trying to introduce me to your son?” Her voice was even.

“You already know him,” Eddie dumbly pointed out. Then he shook his head like an idiot, even though she couldn’t see him.

Ana’s laughter filtered over the phone. “That’s not what I meant and you know it. And the answer is yes, I’d be happy to.”

“Great, you want me to pick you up? It’s the one in City Square, by the fountains. I was thinking Christmas Eve, because my shift ends that afternoon.” 

“I live pretty close, don’t worry about it. I might have to leave early since I have to wake up early the next morning, but yeah, Christmas Eve works!” 

“Great! See you then.” Eddie hung up and stared at the device in his hand. Ana hadn’t balked at the idea of Eddie bringing her into Christopher’s life, which meant half the battle was over. The other half was getting Christopher to look at the situation with an open mind. 

Still, he couldn’t figure out what the sinking in his gut and the itch under his skin meant.

It took him until while they were getting ready to go out to meet Ana at City Square to muster enough courage to talk to his son.

“Hey, Chris, can I talk to you about something?” Eddie asked as he helped Chris straighten out his sweater. 

“Yeah.”

“You know how I’ll always love your mom and she’ll always be part of our family, right?” Christopher nodded slowly, probably confused at where this was going. “Well, because you’re the person I love the most in this world, I just wanted to know, what would you think if I started going out again?”

“You mean...dating?”

“Yeah. I might’ve met someone, and I want you to meet them too.” 

“Is it a surprise?”

“It can be if you want it to be. If you don’t, I can tell you right now before we go meet them.”

“No! Let’s keep it a surprise. Come on, Daddy, hurry up! You’re so slow!” Christopher groaned as he clattered out of the room, sending Eddie rocking back on his heels. That went much better than he expected.

“Okay, okay. I’m coming.” He threw on a jacket before following Christopher. Eddie kept an eye on the rear-view mirror as he drove towards City Square. Chris was bouncing in his seat with excitement the entire time, a wide smile on his face as he took in all the decorations along the streets.

_Well, that solves that._

Eddie and Christopher set up camp just near the line, waiting for Ana. They hadn’t been there long when Eddie heard the clack of her heels on the cobblestone. He stepped forward to pull her into a one-sided hug before looking at Christopher.

“Hi Ms. Flores! Are you here to see Santa too?” his son chirped eagerly, still looking around everywhere. For what, Eddie didn’t know.

“Well, your dad invited me, and I couldn’t say no,” Ana smiled and bent down to greet him too.

Eddie watched Christopher closely as Ana hugged him. The kid was too polite to outright say anything but he saw the light and excitement die down as Ana’s words sunk in. He wasn’t sure what the issue was, but Christopher was clearly upset about something.

He was thankful that he raised a respectful kid, because Chris talked to her exactly like he talked to other adults. But Eddie was his father, he knew his son inside out. That wasn’t the same energy. And Ana taught kids for a living, there was a fair chance that she might've noticed it too.

While Ana excused herself to go check out a few ornaments that were on sale, Eddie crouched down in front of Christopher.

“Hey, buddy, what’s wrong?”

Chris chewed on his lip, as if he didn’t want to say anything. Ultimately, he caved to Eddie. “Is Ms. Flores the surprise?”

“Yeah bud. I…” He didn’t know how to explain this. “I like her, and I thought she should meet the most important person in my life.” For some reason, the words left a sour taste on his tongue.

“Is she the one you’ve been going out with?” Nothing really did escape Christopher. Eddie’s nod only served to upset him a little further.

“Talk to me, Chris. What are you thinking? Do you not like her?”

Christopher peeked over his shoulder to make sure Ana wasn’t listening before coming closer to him. “I like her. But she makes me feel like I can’t do anything because of my CP.”

This shocked him. He had no idea where his kid had gotten that from. Ana taught disabled and special education kids. If she didn’t encourage people, she wouldn’t have her job.

“What do you mean?”

“After I fell off the skateboard, I think she was really worried because she tried to tell me not to do some of the other physical activities my friends were playing. But I didn’t have a problem with them before. I don’t think she meant to make me feel bad, but it did.”

“Chris…” He was at loss for words. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I was embarrassed.” His son wasn’t looking at him anymore. Eddie tilted his chin up and shook his head, his heart hurting because his son was hurting. They'd been doing a lot better about talking to one another about when they were sad, but this was clearly something him and Christopher would have to work on.

“You have nothing to be embarrassed about Chris. Ana was probably telling you so you didn’t get hurt again.”

Another thing rang in Eddie’s mind, from the night he’d gone over to apologize.

_“There’s a lot to be said about getting back on the horse, but there’s also some value in learning you don’t like horses. Sometimes, our limitations tell us when to stop. But sometimes, they can tell us where to look next.”_

He’d brushed it off that night, having apologized and leavened the guilt from his shoulders. He’d known that Ana hadn’t been trying to antagonize Christopher or put him down in any way, but somehow, that had come across as something else to the kid. It seemed more like she’d tried to decide where his limitations were, in the farce of caring for him.

Hell, even Eddie didn’t do that. He put in boundaries, but ultimately, deciding if he wanted to look somewhere else was Christopher’s decision.

Though, he _had_ almost done the same thing. If it weren’t for Buck, he probably would’ve ended up telling his son the exact same thing; fail once, look somewhere else.

“Are you going to marry her?” Christopher asked quietly, fidgeting with his crutches. Eddie didn’t have an answer for that. Truth be told, he hadn’t thought that far. They weren’t even dating. “I still want my Bucky.”

Eddie furrowed his eyebrows, shaking his head from the whiplash in confusion. “Where did Buck come from?”

Christopher stayed silent, peering over Eddie’s shoulder at the line behind him. “I thought he’d be here today, that he was the surprise. I don’t want him to spend Christmas Eve alone, and I love spending time with him. I thought he was the one you wanted to marry.”

Eddie felt winded at his son’s words. He hadn’t even realized that Buck would be spending Christmas alone, with Maddie out of town. With the Grant-Nash household hosting two sets of parents, there was likely no chance of him going there. Hen had probably invited him, but knowing Buck, he didn’t want to impose on their family time.

The only people Buck would’ve allowed himself to spend the holiday with were Eddie and Christopher, and Eddie had been too blind to see it. He wondered when he’d stop screwing things up.

That was before he registered Christopher’s last sentence.

“Wait, what? You thought I wanted to marry Buck?”

“I thought you loved him. He loves you,” Christopher said by way of explanation, which only confused him further. Before Eddie could say anything, Ana returned, her gaze skipping between Eddie and Christopher.

“Everything okay?” 

“Yeah, Daddy and I were just talking. That blonde elf over there helped me two years ago,” Chris pointed at a very familiar woman standing near the front of the line. “Daddy, can I go see Santa now?” 

“Go ahead, but make sure you stay in my sights okay? Don’t wander off,” Eddie instructed his son, feeling like the words were being yanked from him. He was still stuck on the fact that Christopher seemed confident about the fact that Buck loved him, and even more confident about the fact that _he_ loved Buck.

“You’re thinking pretty hard over there, what’s up?” Ana observed, jerking a thumb towards the fountain. “Wanna go sit over there and talk?”

He made a move to guide her over there, but suddenly, his feet felt like lead weights. Instead, he steered her over to a bench near the exit where other parents were waiting, pointedly avoiding the sight of the fountain ledge. 

He knew, the second he’d look over there, he’d hear Buck’s comforting voice in his head, one that reassured him that he wasn’t fucking up being a parent. Or by wanting Shannon back in his life. Or whatever had been going through his mind.

“He really likes Santa, doesn’t he?” Ana said, pulling him from his thoughts. Now he was just being plain rude; he’d invited her here, but he was pretty much ignoring her. He forced his brain to shut up and turned to take a few pictures of Christopher.

“Christmas is his favourite holiday. I think it has more to do with getting a million presents rather than the Santa part of it, but I’m glad the innocence isn’t gone yet. Makes me think he’s still my little boy.” 

“He always will be,” she smiled at him. Ana probably knew a thing or two about little kids, given that she taught a bunch of them. “Does he get spoiled?”

Eddie laughed loudly at that. “Oh yeah, definitely. I already couldn’t stop spoiling him, but now Buck, Abuela, Pepa all go out to make sure he has a roomful of new toys, clothes, books, and pretty much everything Chris wants. The rest of the 118 spoil all of the kids just the same, but we can’t help it with our kids. Buck and I went Christmas shopping the other week, and we bought enough presents to fill the back of his jeep, for May, Harry, Chris, Denny and Nia.” He shook his head fondly at the memory.

And then the reminder of Buck brought all of those thoughts rushing right back.

“Sounds like a good time for the kids!” For some reason, no matter how many times they went out, there was always an air of awkwardness that clung to them. They made conversation easily, they could talk about everything over a nice dinner, but whenever Eddie started to think about something more, he fell back. He wasn’t quite sure why. 

“It’s the one time of the year where anything they ask for, they end up getting it from someone or the other.” Eddie was desperate to just stop thinking for the rest of the night, because this was veering dangerously into overthinking-to-the-extremes territory. “Did you find the ornaments you were looking for?”

Ana held up a bag with carefully wrapped boxes inside. “Yeah, my parents love these, and I’m going over to help make food for Christmas dinner, so I thought I’d take them with me.”

“Big family dinner?” 

“Oh you know it. All of my family is coming from all over. I’m just glad I managed to escape it all tonight.” A twinge of guilt pierced Eddie, but before he could say anything, Ana continued. “Don’t worry about it. It gets overwhelming to go from living alone to suddenly shoved into a house full of more than twenty people and a bunch of rowdy kids.”

“Rowdy kids are your job.” 

Ana glared at him mockingly before laughing. “I suppose so, but it’s different when you’re the teacher and the kids _have_ to listen to you.”

Eddie heard Christopher’s crutches against the pavement before he saw his son come across the bridge. He stood up, brushing off his jeans as he thanked the elf that was standing behind him.

Her joyful face brightened immediately. Christmas cheer was contagious, really. “Oh it’s you! I didn’t see you last year!” 

“Oh, no.” He scratched the back of his neck. “I was working last year, so we couldn’t make it.”

“Did your husband come this time?” Her name tag read ‘Blair.’ Eddie choked on his own tongue at the sound of that, Christopher’s giggling reaching his ears.

“My what?” He could feel how still Ana had gone at his back, and suddenly his nape, face and ears were on fire. 

“The dashing blond man that came with you last time. Oh, he was so polite!” Eddie felt like he’d been hit with a truck. Blair was talking about Buck. “I complimented him on how adorable your son was and despite looking so flustered, he stayed to thank me.” 

“My Bucky’s very polite,” Christopher said proudly. Eddie still couldn’t get his brain to work. This lady, two years ago, had assumed they were a couple with a son. They'd only been friends for about eight months then.

“That he is! It doesn’t seem like a big thing, but we get a lot of parents that walk right over us. No sense of Christmas kindness,” Blair shrugged, looking back at the steadily growing line. “I’ve got to get back, but it was nice seeing you all again!”

Eddie faintly realized that he waved to her and was now trailing behind Christopher and Ana chatting away in front of him. In the meanwhile, his brain was racing with realizations unfolding one after the other.

He thought about the past three years. Near every memorable event he tucked away in his heart had Buck at the forefront, right along with Christopher.

There was Buck helping him get in touch with Carla.

Then there was Buck encouraging Eddie to let Shannon back in their lives, if he wanted that family back.

Then there was Buck on Eddie’s bad days, quietly helping out around the house when Eddie was too sensitive to noise from one of his nightmares.

There was Buck teasing Eddie about his (lack of) cooking skills before bumping him aside with his hip to take over making their meals. 

There was Buck during the tsunami looking him in the eye, bruised, battered, _broken_ , to tell Eddie guiltily that he’d lost Christopher, but every single anguished line of his body said that Buck hadn’t stopped looking for him for one second.

Then there was Buck wary of Eddie and Christopher barging into his apartment after the tsunami in a show of trust. 

There was the swamping feeling of _loss_ during the lawsuit, and the feeling of coming home as soon as they’d gotten past their respective phases.

And later, them moving into a family unit, Buck, Eddie and Christopher picking up each other’s slack so all three of them could breathe a little easier.

Him asking Ana to come to City Square _had_ hurt Buck. That was the heartbreak Eddie had read on his face at the station. In the two weeks leading up to today, Eddie could track all the little things Buck had been doing to distance himself from the Diaz household. The mere thought had Eddie’s heart clenching painfully in his chest.

Why did he always take so long to realize everything monumental in his life?

The man Eddie had always loved had been in front of him the entire time.

“Finally realized it?” Ana’s voice jerked him out of his thoughts. He looked at her, slack-jawed and apologetic. “I don’t think you know how your face lights up every time you talk about Buck. Almost makes me feel like the other woman,” Ana said softly, smiling sadly. “I can’t compete with that, and deep down, I think you know who the person you’ve been looking for is.” 

“I’m sorry, Ana, I…” He felt like such an asshole. He’d been stringing her along for four months, but he couldn’t even muster the courage to go sit at the fountain with her, because that was his and Buck’s thing.

“Hey, we’re still friends, and I think we’re better off as just that.” Her voice was gentle, but she didn’t look hurt, much to Eddie’s relief. He hugged her again and said his good-byes before picking Christopher up.

He had somewhere to be. Short of sprinting to his car, Eddie was in the biggest rush and probably looked insane jogging down the street with his son in his arms. Christopher seemed to have caught on and was laughing wildly as Eddie weaved through the other Christmas shoppers. 

Eddie set Chris in the car and playfully punched his little man. “Next time I’m being an idiot, just tell me.”

“That’s a bad word, but as long as you don’t let Buck go, we’re good.” Christopher punched his arm too, albeit lightly because of the yawn splitting his jaw.

“Let’s go home.”

Unbeknownst to Chris, they were going to Buck’s place. Eddie prayed the entire time that he was still home, because he didn’t want to wait anymore.

He climbed the stairs with Christopher in his arms, knocking lightly. The boy was conked out, tired from the day, and thankfully was a heavy enough sleeper. Waking up with Buck would make the kid’s year.

Eddie stared at the man in front of him. Buck’s blue eyes were rimmed in the tell-tale sign of exhaustion and possible crying. The possible in the dim light, his face looked gaunt.

Simply standing in the doorway with Buck in front of him, Eddie can’t help but think that the itch that had been pestering him for the past two weeks was gone, and he was right where he’s meant to be. 

Even if him and Buck weren’t quite on the same page yet.

Noticing Christopher in his arms, Buck opened the door widely, bending down to press a kiss to the boy’s head as Eddie stepped in before silently pointing upstairs. He still wasn’t looking at him. The unabashed show of love had Eddie’s heart beating faster in his chest, and hadn’t that always been how Buck was?

More flashbacks assaulted him as Eddie quickly changed Christopher’s clothes into pajamas that Buck kept for overnight stays, the kid only sleepily protesting, and laid Christopher down in the bed.

All those nights Buck had taken the couch for Eddie and Christopher to be comfortable. The side of the cabinet he’d given to them to put extra clothes so they didn’t have to rush to go home at night or in the morning. 

Buck flying up the stairs at the slight sound of either of them having a nightmare. Buck holding both of them tightly to ground them back to the present.

Eddie padded softly back down the stairs, where the younger man was waiting. He’d wrapped his arms around himself, as if trying to put a barrier between him and Eddie.

Somehow, Buck knew why he was here. Eddie opened his mouth to say so many things to him, but when he spoke, it was: “You let me hurt you.”

Instantly, he knew that was the wrong thing to say, because Buck’s face became a stone mask, shuttering closed. He’d never seen his best friend’s expression so hard before.

“If that’s all, you can leave, Eddie.” Buck’s words were harsh, but Eddie deserved them.

“No, no wait. I have to tell you something.” He fidgeted with his fingers, not sure how exactly to word this. “I need you to hear me out, but I don’t know how to say it.”

* * *

Buck was at his rope’s end. He thought he had until tomorrow morning to barricade his heart against the emotional onslaught Eddie’s presence brought.

He’d declined Hen and Bobby’s offers to join them for this very reason; he needed space to lick his wounds in private. There would have been no way to see all those families together and not hurt at the absence of his own.

“I wish I’d told you to come along to take Chris to see Santa today” Eddie began quietly, stepping closer to Buck. There was nothing like the confident man Buck had come to love in Eddie’s body language. He was folded onto himself, much like Buck himself. “I wish I’d asked you instead.”

“You ask too much of me, Eddie,” Buck’s voice cracked. He wasn’t quite sure why he was being so honest. 

It would’ve been torture to be there, in Eddie’s orbit, yet...not at the same time. To see Ana and Eddie together.

“I didn’t mean with Ana, I meant...” Eddie stumbled over his words. “Shit, Buck.” He looked to be fighting himself on something before resolve settled over him. “I’m sorry.”

Buck stayed quiet, knowing Eddie had more to say, and no words to say it with. “I don’t know why I couldn’t see it sooner. I didn’t pay attention to the sinking feeling in my gut, dismissing it as nervousness. I didn’t pay attention to how much I want you around me forever. I didn’t pay attention to seeing you hurt every time I went out with Ana. I didn’t pay attention to how awkward things were between us, almost as if I was forcing myself to see something.”

“There’s just so many things that I didn’t pay attention to. I don’t even know where to start. But today, standing in front of that fountain where the two of us sat _two years ago_ , I couldn’t even sit down. It felt so wrong to be there without you.”

“I shouldn’t have even thought of going to a family thing without you, because you are my family. And just as I was thinking that, I met an elf who had thought you were my husband.” Buck froze in place, knowing exactly who he was talking about. “That got me thinking. I don’t have many memories from the last three years without you in it. You’d included us wholeheartedly in your heart, Buck. You’ve had me from the very start.”

“I just didn’t...realise it.” Eddie closed his eyes and stepped back. Buck recognized the move as the one he used to protect himself when he was vulnerable. He forced himself to put his arms down from where his fingers were digging into his skin.

“I’m not going to lie, I didn’t want you to know,” he confessed. Eddie looked warily at him, apologies lining the planes of his shadow.

“Why not?”

“Eddie, up until right now, I had no idea you were interested in men, let alone me. And to be frank with you, even if I had known, I don’t know if I would’ve taken that monumental risk. Not until I was one-hundred percent sure this was something you wanted too.” Buck whooshed out a breath, leaning back against the counter. They always seemed to have their deepest conversations right here. “The fear of losing you or Chris chokes me, every single time I try to muster enough courage to tell you I want more. And after hearing you talk about wanting to include Ana in your family, I wasn’t sure what my place was.”

“If you’ll still have me, your place will always be with me.” Eddie sounded so unsure, as if Buck would push him away. If Buck was a petty man, he would’ve but he wasn’t; not when it came to Eddie. Before Buck could tell him that, Eddie continued as if he hadn’t just restarted Buck’s heart.

“I promise you, there’s nothing you could do that would make you lose us. It was the biggest mistake of my life to not listen to my gut when it was telling me that Ana wasn’t the one, but you’re irrevocably a part of us. And after being a duet for so long, then a trio with you, neither of us want to go back to being just Eddie or Christopher.” Eddie paused, his words choked up. Buck felt his eyes burn again. It was rare that Eddie allowed himself to be vulnerable, and Buck would never take for granted the fact that Eddie felt safe enough to do so around him.

“You know what happened tonight? Christopher was so disappointed that it wasn’t you I brought with me. My son saw that I loved you before I did, which definitely tells you about how genius he is but also? Nothing works without you, Buck. Not anymore.”

Eddie’s words were sincere, and Buck wanted to do nothing else but to just pull him over to the sofa and curl into his side. His heart began beating a little faster at what Eddie was implying.

His brain, however, had other plans. There was still one thing left for Buck to say. 

“I don’t want to be a rebound.” The words were serious. Eddie chuckled, relief weighing his tone down. 

“I was never dating her. Didn’t even get as far as putting my tongue in her mouth.” Buck winced at the thought of Eddie putting his tongue in anyone’s mouth besides his. Eddie shrugged apologetically for the crude words. “In fact, she told me today that she felt a lot like ‘the other woman’ when she was around us.”

“She’s been around the two of us exactly two times,” Buck pointed out. The idea was so ludicrous that it made him want to laugh. But then he thought of all the other people who‘d mistaken them as being together. And it’d all started with that wishful elf two years ago, who seemed to have brought them back together again. “Actually, she might be onto something. A lot of people say the exact same thing.”

“All those people on call?” Eddie smirked. Buck’s eyes widened. He’d known all along. 

“You knew about those? Why didn’t you say anything?”

“Why didn’t you?” Eddie countered, looking sheepish. “I just didn’t think you wanted me like that.”

Buck thought the top of head might explode from the amount of miscommunication they’d put themselves through. “Okay.” He threw his hands up, running harsh fingers through his hair. “Okay. Dammit, Eddie, I have wanted you ever since I saw you put on the bomb guards without a second thought for your life. I have liked you ever since you got your hand stuck in a door and started to curse the door out in Spanish. I have loved you ever since you cared enough to try to knock me out of my wallowing. I fell in love with you when you told me there was no one else in this world you trusted with Christopher.”

His best friend’s eyes were glistening, even as he smiled widely. “I don’t even know when I started liking you. If I had to pinpoint the exact moment I fell in love with you, it was seeing you collapse with relief at having found my son. You went through hell to make sure I got him back, _we_ got him back. And I can’t ever repay you for that.”

Buck clicked his tongue in disapproval at that. “You know I love that kid.”

“Like your own,” he smiled softly, coming closer to slot in between Buck’s thighs, tangling their fingers together. “I don’t know about you, but I’m done wasting time.”

It was weird how everything slotted right into place again. He’d never given himself the chance to love Eddie so brightly before, and now that he could, he felt like he would blind himself with it.

Eddie looked content, happy to just be pressed against him. Buck brushed a thumb across his knuckles, studying him quietly before leaning in. He stopped a fraction of an inch from Eddie’s mouth, giving him the chance to back out. 

“I don’t bite," Eddie whispered, eyes almost daring Buck. It was a change from the cocky arrogance _he_ normally pushed Eddie with.

“Pity,” Buck whispered back before capturing Eddie’s lips with his own, in a soft, exploratory kiss. He pulled back to look at Eddie’s expression, unsure of if he had overstepped. 

A groan escaped the other man as he hauled Buck into a searing kiss of his own, branding him for all the world to know. This kiss wasn’t unsure at all. It was Eddie knowing what he wanted and what he wanted was _him_. 

Empowering, that knowledge was. Eddie was pressing Buck into the counter, the coolness of the granite off-set by the heat Eddie was emitting from the front. As Eddie licked along the seam of Buck’s lips, he willingly gave himself over to the older man. Passion flared between them, enough that Buck almost wanted to check their skin for scorch marks.

As they parted for breath, Buck lifted a hand to brush a thumb along Eddie’s kiss-swollen lips, blue eyes searching warm, hazelnut ones. “I’m almost afraid I’ll wake up.”

“I can kiss you again. Make sure you know this isn't a dream,” Eddie gallantly offered, already pressing another kiss at the corner of his mouth. Buck laughed.

“Can’t get enough, huh, Diaz?”

“Never of you.” The two stayed silent, Eddie’s temple resting again Buck’s cheek. Buck smiled against him and wrapped his arms around him, ignoring the discomfort of the table stabbing his spine.

He didn’t realize they both were dozing off, even while standing before Eddie jerked against him, jolting Buck awake. He was looking bleary-eyed himself. “Wow, can’t believe we just fell asleep on each other.”

“It’s been an exhausting couple of weeks,” Buck said, already tugging Eddie upstairs. “Let’s go upstairs and sleep. Because Christopher is going to wake us up near immediately.” 

Buck got out a pair of pajamas for Eddie before the two collapsed in bed, Buck holding Christopher and Eddie holding both of them. 

“ _My_ family.” Eddie whispered against the shell of Buck’s ear. Buck smiled as Chris wiggled closer in his sleep, but turned his head to kiss Eddie goodnight. “Just to be clear, we’re dating now, right?”

Buck held back his laugh but kissed him again in answer. “We’re whatever you want us to be. As long as we’re together, we’re good.”

“I love you.” Eddie whispered against his mouth. He smiled contentedly and turned back, curling back into Eddie’s warmth.

* * *

Morning came with an earthquake. 

Buck almost shot upright in bed before realising that it was not, in fact, an earthquake but rather an overactive 10 year old shaking him wildly. 

“Buck!” his favourite kid in the world whisper-yelled, looking far too excited for his own good. A glance at the clock showed that it was 6:30 in the morning and Chris was wide awake. 

Realizing that it was Christmas, Buck carefully dislodged himself from a somehow-still-sleeping Eddie and swung the boy onto his back, eliciting a bunch of hushed giggles as he galloped down the stairs. 

“Merry Christmas, little man!” Buck knelt so Chris could get off his back, right in front of where the mountains of presents were. Every single one of them was for Chris, with the exception of maybe three or four of them. 

“Are these for me?” Christopher gasped. He started counting them while Buck took a few photos. Seeing the kid immersed in the most important task of all time, Buck stood up to start a pot of coffee, knowing Eddie would want some as soon as he woke up. 

Fixing himself a cup, he stood quietly at the front of the couch, watching this miracle play out before him. 

“Bucky, did you know that Santa made my wish come true again this year?”

“Really? What was the wish?”

“I wished for you, Buck!” Christopher continued sorting his present, clearly not seeing Buck freeze. With five measly words, Christopher had literally laid him bare.

Buck blinked tears away just as he felt a pair of arms around his waist. Eddie kissed his neck, resting his cheek on Buck’s shoulder as the two quietly stood there.

“Your curls are so pretty,” Eddie mumbled into his shirt. Buck barked a laugh despite himself, knowing they were all over the place from being crushed into the pillow. 

“Didn’t expect you to be this romantic in the morning. Definitely not after only realising you loved me yesterday.” 

“I _love_ you, as in present tense. And you can deal with me being clingy, Buckley, I’ve already wasted so much time.”

“Well, we have. But we’ve been doing our own thing. Nothing has to change all that much.”

“I’m not sure if there’s anything left to change. Except now I can kiss you whenever I want.” He kept his voice low for Chris’ sake but Buck laughed loudly. 

“Holding you to that.” 

“Bucky, I think Santa’s been looking out for us.” Christopher’s voice grabbed his attention. 

“Why’s that, bud?”

“I wished for Daddy to come back, and he did. Then I wished for Mommy to come back and she did. Last year, I wanted to spend Christmas with you and Dad, and Santa made it happen!” Buck would’ve snorted at the mental image of Athena Grant dressed as Santa if he hadn’t been choking up with emotion. “Yesterday, I wished for you, and today, I woke up in your bed!”

“You and me both, Chris.” Eddie pulled away, winking at Buck before giving his son Christmas hugs. He looked right at home, all sleepy, soft and vulnerable. Christopher’s words had made him tear up too. 

The sight made his heart swell. 

Clearly, the Diaz boys didn’t know that they’d broken him for all time.

“See, Daddy. I told you that you love Buck.”

“Clearly, you’re smarter than I am.” Eddie swiped Buck’s mug before kissing him. “Merry Christmas, Buck.”

Buck dragged Eddie over to where Chris was sitting and plopped down, holding his boys close. “You’re right, Chris. Santa was looking for us because this is my Christmas miracle.”

“Yeah. It really is.” The three huddled together as Christopher neatly took off the wrapping paper. Eddie snorted at the sight. “I was not that neat as a kid. The wrapping paper would be torn off before anyone knew what was happening.”

“I was, for sure. Because I could recycle it into wrapping other presents. Also, present wrapping lasted longer,” Buck confessed, laughing a little. Some of those presents had been wrapped with recycled paper. 

“He gets it from you then,” Eddie said casually, before standing up to refill the coffee mug. Buck stared after him, still not quite convinced that this wasn’t a dream. Eddie really was moving around his kitchen, in his clothes with a bedhead from hell. 

Chris climbed into Buck’s lap after opening three of his presents. “Thank you, Buck.” Buck smiled into his neck as Christopher threw his arms around him. He kissed Christopher’s wild curls.

“I’d love to take all the credit and cuddles but some of these are from your dad too,” he stage-whispered as Eddie came back with coffee. Chris giggled at Eddie’s mock glare and stretched to hug him too. 

A ringing interrupted their little bubble. Eddie pulled his phone out and winced at the ID. 

“I forgot that we had to go to Abuela’s this morning,” he grinned sheepishly, pressing ‘answer’ on the phone. Buck and Christopher giggled to themselves as Abuela started yelling Eddie in rapid-fire Spanish over the phone, loud enough that they could hear it.

Eddie had the sense to look disgruntled at being scolded like a child, but complained like one anyway. “Abuela, stop!I’m not a little boy anymore.”

Buck sucked on a tooth while looking at him with wide eyes. If anything, Eddie just invited his grandmother’s wrath willingly. He cringed as the scolding got louder. Christopher had no qualms about his amusement from the entire ordeal, happily laughing as Buck set him down. Eddie put the phone on speaker so it wasn’t so loud in his ear.

“You could be ninety years old and you would be my little Edmundo.” He winced again at the sound of his full name. “Now, give the phone to Evan.”

Buck froze from where he’d been pulling Eddie’s present out of the pile. Abuela never ceased to amaze him. Eddie held back a laugh and passed the phone to him. He tossed his boyfriend the box as he brought the phone up to his ear.

“Merry Christmas, Abuela,” he said, a red flush climbing his neck even though the matriarch couldn’t see him. 

“Merry Christmas, _nieto!_ I just wanted to make sure you were coming for tonight’s dinner.”

“Yes ma’am, I’ll be there.”

“Don’t forget to bring Christopher but feel free to leave Eddie at home.” The man in question choked on his coffee as Buck laughed loudly. He and Christopher shared a high-five as Buck turned his attention back to Eddie’s grandmother.

“Abuela!” Eddie protested, now properly chagrined.

“That’ll teach you to forget to bring my boys first thing in the morning.” 

“Sorry Abuela, we’re a package deal. If I don’t bring him, he’s going to pout until next year,” Buck teased, mirth dancing in his eyes. Eddie's eyes twinkled behind his coffee mug.

“At least Edmundo finally realized that he loves you.” Abuela’s conviction of the fact made Buck want to laugh and sob at the same time, and settled his nerves about being accepted by Eddie’s family. His boyfriend groaned and snatched the phone.

“Don’t encourage him, his head already doesn’t fit through the door.” Buck laughed at his boyfriend’s whining. Eddie gave the phone to Christopher and turned to Buck, tugging him down with him. “I see how it is, all three of you are going to gang up on me forever.”

“We did that before we started dating,” Buck shrugged. “This isn’t anything new.”

“Brilliant.” He said dryly, kissing him softly. Christopher passed the phone back, having hung up with his great-grandmother.

“Daddy, are you going to marry Buck now?” Christopher asked innocently, holding onto a new Hot Wheels set. The thought of marrying Eddie made Buck feel giddy on the inside, though he tried his best to suppress it so Eddie didn't run off screaming.

Just as Buck thought Eddie was going to deflect the question, he surprised him. “Definitely some time in the future, bud. I’d marry Buck tomorrow if he wanted.”

For a serious moment, he was actually thinking about it. Which Eddie clearly saw on his face, judging from the soft smile. “This is it for me, and I know that.”

“Wow, you really don’t waste time,” Buck chuckled. “I’m in, but I have a feeling everyone else would have things to say. Especially if we get married after only dating for maybe 10 hours. And Maddie would kill me if I got married without her.”

“Your call, but I’m going to marry you one day, right Chris?” Eddie turned back to his son, who enthusiastically nodded, now looking between them like he was watching a tennis match.

Buck glared at Eddie. “Low blow, Diaz. Using my little man to get me to say yes?”

“You would have said yes anyway,” Chris giggled. “Can you guys open your presents now?” 

Buck ended up getting a new pair of workout gloves and a personalized, engraved tumbler with a photo of the three of them on it. Eddie ended up with a new e-reader and a stamped leather bracelet. He laughed before pulling out a smaller box for Buck.

Eddie would wear bracelets, but Buck didn’t wear anything but watches. “Daddy and I stood there and watched the woman write words on the back.” Christopher said proudly.

The watch was simple and elegant, and simply read _We love you, Buck! -Christopher and Eddie_

“I’m going to cry happy tears” was the only warning Buck gave before tears were already falling down his cheeks. He was just so happy and content, and it was such a whiplash from the past two weeks where he'd thought that everything had been slipping through his fingers.

“Buck, are you okay?” Chris asked, moving to press into his side.

“Yeah, bud. I’m just really happy.” Eddie looked emotional himself as he ghosted a hand across Buck’s jaw, reaching over Christopher’s head to wipe the tears away.

He could see himself in this exact position for years to come, and suddenly, he wanted to drag Eddie to the nearest courthouse.

Buck gave Eddie an impish grin, his next words bringing a light to Eddie’s eyes. “So...want to surprise our families at dinner?”

As Eddie and Christopher started seriously planning out a shotgun wedding, Buck laughed and just held his boys a little tighter.

Maybe there was some merit to Christmas miracles.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't believe this fic took off so far! Thank you so so so much for all the love you guys gave on the last chapter. I'm still lost as to what I did so well in this fic but I suppose Christmas fics are super popular (I don't celebrate it so I've never written one!)
> 
> This chapter is literally tooth-rotting fluff. I'm not even going to be shy about it, it's pure and simple fluff of our favourite boys. I took a lot of creative writer liberties here, and added a few original characters too (those belong to me)
> 
> Naturally, this got away from me, so there's going to be a third part too xD Part 3 is going to be the actual dinner, but the in-between...I think you all know what this is ;) I hope you enjoy this chapter just as much as you enjoyed the last one!

Turns out that when they came together, Eddie and Christopher were inexcusable forces of nature.

“You’d really marry me today, if you could?” Eddie had asked no less than fifteen times since morning. Each time, Buck kissed him softly and told him yes. Each time, Christopher only giggled even more, concentrating on writing something that he was vehement for Buck to not look at.

“Aw, come on, kid! You can’t hide from me!”

“It’s a surprise Buck. Surprises are supposed to be kept secret,” Christopher chastised with the air of a teenager. Eddie only laughed at Buck’s failed attempts, smirking at him.

After Abuela’s call, they’d made a few calls to Bobby and Athena, Hen and Karen, and Chimney and Maddie. Maddie had been excited to show them the retreat Chim was treating her to. Carla had called later to wish them as well. While they’d kept their newfound relationships on the down low, it wasn’t a secret that the three of them were spending Christmas together. 

The last call marked the end of their social obligations for the morning. The three of them had decided to lounge around Buck’s apartment, in absolutely no rush to go anywhere. Buck was content to curl up with Eddie on the couch while Christopher played with his new toys.

They had gotten up at some point, all three of them working in sync to make breakfast. They made a huge Christmas spread with whatever food Buck had in his apartment. Scrambled eggs, Christopher’s favourite bacon, toast, juice, pancakes and waffles.

“Do we have to have both pancakes and waffles?” Eddie had asked skeptically. Buck and Christopher had only gasped at him, both of them yelling over one another to explain that they were _different_. “Okay, okay! Sorry I asked, jeez.”

Eddie made up for the sin of his question by setting out a plethora of toppings for the pancakes, a rare sugar-high to treat Christopher for the holidays. Whipped cream, M&Ms, Reese’s Pieces, sprinkles, chocolate syrup and other things that Buck kept specifically for Christopher. 

But because they weren't about to have a sugar-high kid on their hands, Buck forced both of them to have more fruit before divulging into the sweets.

They stuffed themselves full of breakfast, then went right back to the living room to watch a few Christmas movies. _The Grinch_ was one of Christopher’s favourites, so they watched that first. Buck felt inordinately like the Grinch when his heart swelled to three times its size, relaxing on a holiday with his boys.

“You know that at some point we have to get up to get ready, right?” Buck said as Eddie put the second movie on, _A Christmas Carol._ The 2009 animated one was one of Buck’s favourites. The book was a classic, one that he’d read a million times at this point.

“Yeah, but we haven’t reached that point quite yet,” Eddie teased back, plopping down on the other side of Christopher.

Buck simply shook his head and lost himself in the world of Ebenezer Scrooge. Him and Eddie recited the dialogues in varying funny voices which made all three of them laugh loudly, the happy sound reverberating through the entire apartment.

Suddenly, Eddie jumped off the couch, phone in his hand as his eyes gleamed with excitement. “Okay. I got it. Let’s go get married.”

Buck froze, absolutely sure that he’d heard Eddie wrong. “Wait, _what_ _?!_ ”

Eddie must’ve read something on Buck’s face, because he excused the two of them for a minute and dragged Buck upstairs.

“Eddie, what’s going on?” Buck asked, putting a little space between them. It was a shift for him to be the voice of reason, but it was necessary.

“I want to marry you, Buck.” The conviction in Eddie’s voice made Buck feel better about the entire proposal but it was a huge life change. He couldn’t help but doubt the timing of it.

“Until yesterday, you didn’t even know you loved me. I know I said I’d marry you immediately, but I’ve known I was in love with you for a very long time. I don’t want you to regret this.” 

Despite the examples of marriages that Buck had grown up with, he’d always held Bobby and Athena’s marriage, and Hen and Karen’s marriage as an ideal. The couples didn’t have only bright moments, but they loved each other enough to try to work through any issues.

Obviously, Buck wasn’t privy to every single moment, but despite all his phases, he knew what he wanted from his own marriage. He wanted someone to support him, call him out on his bullshit, love him for everything he was. Something Eddie did to the last letter, but Buck was still scared. “I don’t want you to feel like you have anything to make up to me, or prove to me. I know you love me, I believe it with every inch of me.”

Eddie was silent for a moment, the exhilarated gleam diminishing from his eyes. “That is how it seems, doesn’t it?” 

Buck sat down on the bed, looking up at his boyfriend who looked dejected now. He forced himself to continue. “I meant what I said about marrying you today, Eddie, but at the same time, marriage is huge. It’s a big deal. What if you realize that I’m not what you want? And we have Christopher to think about, too.”

Another beat of silence before Eddie spoke, his words raw and unfiltered. "Last night, that’s all I could think of. The fact that the two of us have practically been making a relationship work since we met, one that _includes_ Christopher. We’ve been dating each other without even knowing it.” Buck vaguely recalled saying something like that this morning, but right now he was hooked onto Eddie’s every word. “I’ve never felt this right about anything, I promise you that.”

“I could never regret anything that had to do with you. I want to see my hand with your ring, and I want to see yours with mine.” Eddie knelt before Buck, eyes open and vulnerable. He pleaded with Buck to understand that Eddie was serious about this. “I’m not known for impulsive decisions, but this isn’t an impulse. This feels like it’s meant to be. If you don’t feel the same way, then I’m happy waiting forever for you, babe.”

“Is that what you’ve been doing all morning?” Buck realized that Eddie had been fiddling with his phone all day, something he didn’t normally do. His boyfriend grinned sheepishly.

“There’s a magistrate and a priest waiting to marry us, if you want to. We can get our marriage license and get married in one go.”

“You’ve really planned for this, haven’t you?” Buck’s mind was racing, though less with apprehension now and more with the thrill of being able to call Eddie _his_. He couldn’t deny the rush of love that came from having Eddie by his side, so sure about what he wanted.

No matter how many times he’d played out the fantasy of being part of the Diaz family, this hadn’t been it. Never in a million years did he imagine a shotgun wedding.

“Buck?” He realized that he’d been silent too long. Eddie was now looking small and unsure of himself kneeling in front of Buck, a look so out-of-place on the man that it made Buck’s heart clench.

Eddie did love him. Just because he realized it later than Buck had didn’t negate that fact. And he wouldn’t have brought up the idea of marriage in front of Christopher if he wasn’t sure of the fact. Buck was questioning him for nothing.

“Let’s do it.” Eddie blinked, almost as if he hadn’t believed Buck would be on-board. “I did tell you that we could surprise your family at dinner.”

He laughed as Eddie leaped up to tackle him back onto the bed with a hug and a kiss. Buck wrapped his arms on the small of Eddie’s back, happily keeping Eddie’s weight pushing him into the mattress.

“This is what I want forever, Buck. I promise you that.”

“We’re getting married on one condition,” Buck said impishly, kissing Eddie’s nose. “We get rings before we go to dinner.”

“Deal. Anything you want, sweetheart,” Eddie kissed him softly, slow and loving. Any remaining doubt in Buck’s head was gone, replaced by the sheer joy of marrying the man he’d loved silently for so long.

“Let’s go tell Christopher the news.” Buck rolled off the bed, Eddie still in his arms. Somehow, Eddie had managed to drag the blanket so they were now a burrito of limbs stuck to each other, falling with a loud thump onto the ground. “How did you manage to do that?”

“I was wrapping us up,” Eddie protested, now trying to shove free of the blanket’s hold. “It’s cold out.”

“This is LA, Eddie. Admit you were trying to be romantic and move on,” Buck teased, stealing a kiss as he freed himself. Eddie chuckled and nodded, holding his hands up in surrender.

“You got me, but better get used to it now,” he smirked, smiling as his words turned serious. “I mean it, Evan, you’ve made me the happiest person in the world today.”

“I’m pretty sure it’s illegal to have so many miracles in one day, but here we are. Yesterday, I thought I’d lost you forever.” Buck traced the lines of Eddie’s face, memorizing his love’s figure. Eddie’s eyes held regret from the decision, which Buck chased off with a kiss against his forehead. “You’re here now, that’s all that matters.”

“I’m here forever, Buck. You've got me.” Buck laughed wetly, already tearing up. He stood up and pulled Eddie off the floor, too. 

“You’re going to make me cry again.”

“Are you guys done yet?” Christopher shouted from downstairs. 

“Buck agreed to marry us, so yeah! Let’s get going!” Eddie leaned over the railing to give Chris a thumbs-up, practically glowing. Buck beamed at the kid’s cheering, walking over to his closet.

“I don’t know if I have formal clothes for Christopher. You’d probably fit into something of mine.”

“The clothes from yesterday will work. I’ll go grab something from your closet.” Eddie called back, earnestly typing a message out. “Actually, I think we need to go back to my house anyway. I need to grab a few documents.”

“Even better, I’ll just grab a suit and not put it on. They choke me,” Buck laughed, going down the stairs. Before his foot was on the bottom step, he found himself with an armful of Christopher.

“Thank you for marrying my daddy, Buck. You make us really happy.” His heart warmed. Christopher was the sweetest kid on this planet, and why was he crying again?

“You two make me so happy too.” He kissed Christopher’s curls, feeling Eddie’s arms come around them. “But if you keep making me cry, we’re going to have words.”

Christopher vibrated with laughter in his arms, Eddie’s laugh resounding against his back. He was fully content just wrapped here, standing on the staircase. 

Yeah, he could see himself like this for years to come. Setting Christopher down, he turned to Eddie. “What documents do you need me to bring?”

“Just your driver’s license. You can bring your birth certificate if you want. I don’t have my birth certificate and…” Eddie trailed off, not wanting to say anything in front of Christopher. Buck got it instantly; proof of any previous spouses’ death. Buck squeezed Eddie’s hand and went over to the filing cabinet, pulling out the document. 

“Are we all sure about this?” He couldn’t resist asking one more time. Eddie and Christopher exchanged a look before staring at him dryly. “Okay, got it, won’t ask again.”

He laughed as he remembered something. “Maddie’s going to kill me.”

* * *

It didn’t take them long to leave Buck’s apartment. An old suit with now-polished shoes was now flattened in the back of his car, along with a tray of fruit salad to take to Abuela’s house tonight. Eddie and Christopher got themselves fastened in the car as Buck looked at the two of them laughing through the window, pure joy lighting up their faces. He hadn’t seen Eddie this happy in months, and Christopher too.

Buck smiled at his family, beyond excited to make it official.

“How’s our day looking?” he asked as he started driving towards Eddie’s place.

“I have a friend who works in the County Clerk’s office, so he’s waiting for us at the courthouse at three. We have an appointment to get the marriage license,” Eddie went on, scrolling through his phone. A glance at the clock said it was coming up to 1:00 now, courtesy of the early start this morning.

“Even on Christmas?”

“Favours come in handy,” his boyfriend smirked, turning around to high-five Christopher in the back. “I thought we’d go buy the rings first, get the license and have the civil ceremony before we have to go to dinner tonight.”

“Sounds good to me,” he beamed, his tone belying the excitement he was suppressing. Eddie reached over the center console and tangled his fingers with Buck’s, squeezing reassuringly.

“Do I have to wear a suit?” Christopher asked.

“If I can find one, I’m not sure your other one will fit now,” Eddie replied, a finger absentmindedly brushing over Buck’s ring finger, as if already imagining the band of metal.

“That’s my right hand,” Buck pointed out, grinning at the move.

“Yeah but I can’t hold your left hand right now,” He teased back. 

“Christopher, what were you drawing this morning?” Buck prodded again, curiosity winning out. The kid laughed before pulling out the paper from his backpack. He passed it to Eddie, who held it open for Buck to read at the red light. It was a handmade drawing of the three of them holding hands, Buck represented with an accurately-drawn stick figure with blond hair and a birthmark. Eddie was aptly drawn with spiky black hair and a crayon beard.

_Will you marry us, Buck?_

Buck wanted to keep staring at it, but the light turned green, and he was forced to shift his attention back to the road. “You were in on the plan? And you didn’t tell me?” He feigned hurt, clutching his chest. “I’m hurt, Christopher, I thought we were a team!”

“I told you it was a surprise, Bucky, don’t be dramatic,” Christopher waved off matter-of-factually. Buck’s jaw dropped open while Eddie lost it, laughing loudly. 

“Chris!” Eddie was still laughing at him, so Buck pinched the back of his hand. “This is revenge for this morning, isn’t it?”

His boyfriend finally managed to calm himself down, eyes twinkling with amusement. He placed a placating kiss on Buck’s knuckles, just as he turned into Eddie’s driveway.

Eddie grabbed the salad and the clothes from the back while Buck helped Chris down. Setting the tray in the fridge, Eddie took Chris to shower while Buck got ready in the master bedroom, all three of them rushing through their preparations so they could make it to whatever jeweler was still open.

There was something about a shotgun wedding that most people probably wouldn’t understand. Yeah, it was great to have their family all around them on such a big day, but when it came to Buck and Eddie, who had fallen into each other organically, without even knowing, it was a little different.

It hadn’t been like the other relationships around them. They hadn’t been aiming to fall in love with one another, or to date one another. They were just...Buck and Eddie.

Buck had gone from being threatened by Eddie’s presence to not being able to live without him in what felt like a blink of an eye. They’d bonded over work, before Buck had somehow fallen right into the Diaz family routine. Slowly, what he wanted out of his life changed.

Then suddenly, that bond had morphed into something red-hot and safe, surrounding the three of them with extra security. This...having an impromptu wedding...this felt _right_. It was a conviction that Buck hadn’t had much of in his life.

As he toweled his hair off and put on blue plaid slacks, a slideshow began playing in his mind, strangely. All those little moments of Eddie and Christopher that led to this perfect moment right here.

Dinners with the two of them, fighting each other on eating vegetables. 

Buck balancing Christopher on his shoulders as he hung decorations from the entire apartment while Eddie took pictures of the whole process.

Eddie flicking a wet towel against Buck’s arm in a rare show of playfulness while they sang around the kitchen, finishing clean up.

There were definitely more trying times with the three of them, too, things that only served to bring them closer.

The tsunami, where Buck and Christopher had to work together to get over their aquaphobia, right in the middle of the lawsuit Buck dragged himself into.

The months it’d taken Buck to repent for something that wasn’t wholly his fault, the days Eddie had had to hold him a little tighter when the nightmares got to be too much.

All those days Buck would see Eddie flinch at things that reminded him of his tours in Afghanistan, the days he’d known were rougher than normal. Those were the days he’d stay as long as Eddie needed, making sure Christopher was settled and ensuring that Eddie knew where he was.

Every single memory led to him getting ready for his _wedding_ in Eddie’s room.

Buck watched his own reflection for any signs of distress that somehow his brain missed, but as he buttoned the white shirt up, he couldn’t help but think that this was the happiest he’d ever been.

The sky-blue tie was next, the methodical action of tying a tie bringing him back to nearly four years ago, back when Buck had just started out with a relationship. Bobby’s words rang in his head.

_“Look, all those things that you feel when you’re with Abby, the closeness, the intimacy and trust, those things don’t come for free. Any woman of substance and experience has lived a life and she’s going to come with some baggage”_

Buck had near given up on “adult” relationships, convinced that his sex addiction made him less than worthy of having a partner with so much depth to them. As usual, Bobby had been right. Nothing about a relationship came free, and even if Buck and Eddie hadn’t officially been in one, they had the trust, intimacy and closeness between them required to make this work.

_“I think your problem is that you’re hoping to pull her out of this trap she’s in with her mom. That’s not gonna happen. What she needs is for you to step inside with her, keep her company in there.”_

The Diaz family had been in the same boat when they crashed into Buck’s life, stuck in a whirlwind of responsibilities and struggles. But this time, Buck had stepped inside their dynamic, making sure that Eddie and Christopher knew that he was there. Along the way, his capacity had changed, even if he’d come to doubt it for a while. And he wouldn’t change it for the world.

“What are you thinking so hard about?” Eddie’s voice broke him out of his reminiscing. Buck’s breath caught at how amazing Eddie looked.

He had donned freshly-ironed black slacks with a sweater tucked into them, a simple belt and a black blazer to complete the outfit. His hair was gelled back in a quiff and he’d just freshly trimmed his beard.

Buck was _so glad_ he hadn’t shaved the thing off. Unlike him, who had definitely opted to go clean shaven.

His outfit wasn’t the most traditional wedding attire, but neither was anything about them. He spent a few more minutes admiring Eddie’s look unabashedly.

“The fact that I’m marrying you and we haven’t even had sex yet.” It was funny to him, really. “How do I know you’re going to keep me satisfied?”

Eddie looked to have stopped breathing as his gaze trailed down Buck’s body, but with those playful words, his heated gaze snapped up to Buck’s impish one. Eddie pulled Buck closer with an admonishing grip on his hips, tugging his bottom lip between his teeth. 

“You’ll just have to wait and see,” he said, voice low. Buck only laughed, kissing him for real this time. “Are you worried about something?” Eddie drew him closer by his tie to bring him down a little, still mischievous about the whole thing.

“Nah, I was just thinking about how ironic it was. A former sex addict getting married without even going for a test drive.” Buck still wouldn’t change anything. He was content with his gradual realization that intimacy didn’t mean sex, brought by all those months of loving Eddie silently.

“Emphasis on the word _former_ , my love,” Eddie chuckled, straightening out the now crumpled shirt. “I’m pretty sure we’re not supposed to see each other before the wedding but I couldn’t resist.”

“How did you expect us to do this, then, Edmundo?” Buck demanded teasingly.

“No other way. Did you want to call Maddie?” Eddie asked, fingers ghosting distractedly along Buck’s skin. He shoved his dirty thoughts away and shook his head in answer.

“Nah. I’m not opposed to having a wedding party later, but I think this is too private to have anyone else there, even if she’s my meddling sister.” He jerked as he remembered something. “Were you going to call anyone?”

“I was going to ask Carla to be our witness, but then I found out that there isn’t an age requirement for witnesses, so I figured Christopher could do it.” Eddie reached around Buck to pick up his cologne. “Cleared it with my friend and everything.”

“That’s smart. I’ve got an idea for the rings though...why don’t the two of us go in separately with Christopher? Since we can’t avoid seeing each other, we can at least avoid seeing the rings,” Buck suggested as he put the finishing touches on his outfit. The second they were married, this tie would be _gone_.

“That’s actually a great idea. Christopher’s about to start bouncing off the walls, by the way, so we might want to hurry up.”

“We could go to the shop on Main? The one right outside City Square?” The significance of the location wasn’t lost on Eddie, who smiled softly at Buck. He couldn’t help but add on to his sentence. “Have I told you I love you today?”

“Hmm...maybe, but it’s always nice to hear anyway.” His...fiancé said? “I love you too, Evan, so much. I’m sorry it took me so long to realize it.”

Yeah, that’s what Buck was going to think of Eddie as for the next hour. “Well, I’m about to rectify how dense your ass can be by tying you down, so I suppose you’re forgiven.”

Buck led Eddie over to the bed and sat him down. “Listen, though, I wanted to talk to you about something else.”

“Yeah?”

Buck dragged his tongue along his lower lip, stalling on how to say this. He studied Eddie’s hands in his; strong, capable hands that would hold Buck’s heart for the rest of his life - and even after that. “I don’t want you to think that I’m replacing Shannon, and I don’t want Christopher to think that either. I know you didn’t bring it up in front of him for a reason today, but I just wanted to let you know that. I love you for all the parts of you, including the ones you think I might not want to see.”

“I know,” Eddie grinned, his eyes shining a little too brightly. “I could never think that. It was a little shocking when I pulled out her death certificate and our old marriage certificate just now, because it reminded me of how much life has changed since then, but nothing would put me off the possibility of marrying you. Remember when I told you that everyone I date is going to know the score between Shannon and I? And you do. You put our son first, just like I do. I can’t ask for anymore.” He leaned to steal a kiss. “You’re perfect for me, and I’m ready to make you mine.”

Buck swallowed around the lump in his throat, pulling Eddie into a light hug so they didn’t crease their clothes. “I love you.” 

He seemed to be incapable of saying anything else. Now that he could love Eddie loudly, he would spend every ten minutes making Eddie knew that.

* * *

Thankfully, the shop was still open. Buck and Christopher went to pick the rings first, both of them chatting with the assistant who was helping them.

Christopher was dressed to the nines in another sweater-vest, the child proclaiming that a suit was too hot to wear. They'd just shrugged and complied, even though Buck was kind of sweltering in his own clothes.

“You guys are still open on Christmas day?” The quaint shop was homey-looking, and had a great selection of rings that ensured that they wouldn’t have to hunt down another store.

The assistant, Selena, laughed. “Yes, because so many people realize that they’ve forgotten to get their loved ones something and end up here.”

“Do you get people who buy rings so they can get married immediately?” Buck flushed at Christopher’s question, but Selena took it in good will.

“You know, it’s very common. Is that what your dad is doing?”

“Yeah, he’s about to marry my daddy and make it official,” Christopher sighed, turning to Buck. “They’re all so pretty.”

He set aside Christopher’s life-altering words for a moment and tried to focus on the task. “Yeah but which one will be pretty on your daddy?”

“If I may help, do you have a picture or something?” Buck pulled his phone out and showed her a picture. “Okay, so he has a warmer skin tone, so darker metals might look good. We have rose gold ones as well, which go well with all skin tones, and the platinum if that interests you. Do you have a price range or limit?”

“Nope.” A ring in the corner caught his eye immediately. It was a simple beveled ring made of a dark silver metal with two thin lines of cobalt blue on the edges. Buck gingerly picked it up from the holder and showed it to Chris. “What do you think?” 

The kid thought seriously about it, looking back and forth between the ring, Buck’s phone and where Eddie was seated outside. Buck sighed with relief when a grin crept across Christopher’s face. 

“That’s perfect, Buck! Daddy’s going to love this one.” Buck passed it back to Selena.

“I think it’s already his size, will I be able to come back and get it engraved?”

“Of course! I’ll pack this one for you right now. It’s a great choice. And congratulations on your wedding.”

Strange that the first person to know about the wedding outside of the three of them and Eddie's friend was this random lady at the jewelry shop.

“Thank you so much.”

“Well it is a shotgun wedding, can’t have you going without a perfect ring.” Buck blushed again, sneaking a look at Eddie through the shop window. “Ooh, I can tell already. You two are adorable.”

“You could tell with only one look?” 

“Hey, I work at a shop that sells wedding bands. I see couples every single day, but sometimes, there’s no chemistry. Other times...the love is overwhelming and reminds me of my singledom,” Selena said dramatically. Buck laughed as he pocketed the box.

“Up until yesterday, I was single too, so trust me, it catches you when you least expect it.”

“Really?” She looked shocked at the prospect. Buck only laughed again; he himself was unable to believe it either.

“Yup, really. It’s a long story, I’ll come back and tell you next time.” He paused before inserting the card into the reader. “Wait, do you have those silicon rings? Eddie and I are firefighters and wearing metal rings isn’t too smart for our job.”

“Oh definitely, here’s a pack of four. They look just like the ring you bought for your husband, but they’re more durable and amazingly cheap.” She billed that too before Buck swiped his card. “That should do it!”

The word ‘husband’ sent shivers down his spine; the good kind.

“Thank you!” Buck made sure the ring was hidden in his pocket before beckoning Eddie over. Eddie, who decided to enter the shop, steal a kiss and push him out. Christopher and Selena were definitely laughing as he exaggeratedly sulked over the bench Eddie had just been sitting at.

“Before we get started, I need to tell you again that your family is gorgeous.” A smile twitched at Eddie’s lips over the bubbly shopkeeper’s gushing. Drilled into his head by his grandmother, he mentally said a small prayer to ward away any evil eye.

“That it is, thank you. Did you find me a ring, buddy?” Christopher nodded, sharing a secretive smile with her.

“Yeah! And I found one for Buck too.” His son pointed at the tray the girl had laid in front of them. Her tag read ‘Selena.’

While he marveled at how big his little boy had gotten, he peered over at the different wedding bands. They were pressed into velvet-covered styrofoam, on display. Eddie looked carefully at all the other rings before turning towards the one his son was now holding.

The ring Christopher was showing him was a beveled tungsten band with a thin line of blue slicing down the middle that vividly matched the shade of Buck’s eyes.

He shared this thought with both of them. “This looks like his eyes, and he’s not big on flashy things, so I think this works. What do you think?” He directed the question to Selena but she and Christopher only exchanged another secretive glance.

He wasn’t quite sure where Christopher picked up the people-person gene, since neither him nor Shannon were all that outgoing. Buck was, though, so perhaps that’s where.

“It’ll look great on him, since he’s pale, and the blue line is a nice touch. Should I pack this?” 

“Yeah, I think this is it. Thank you.” Eddie couldn’t help the rush of possessiveness knowing that everyone could spot _his_ ring on Buck’s finger, even from a distance with the dark metal.

“This entire interaction just made my day.” Selena waved his thanks off. “Like I was telling Buck, we get a lot of couples that rush into here to get rings to propose to people they’re not sure about. It’s sad but it’s good to see that there’s some love in this world.”

Eddie smiled as he looked at the tiny box, then back at Chris. “Ready to get married, bud?”

“Yeah! Let’s go!” Seeing how he couldn’t drag him out, Christopher started pushing at Eddie’s legs with his crutches, urging him to hurry up. “Thank you Ms. Selena!”

“Good luck guys, congratulations!” The girl said chirpily as the door shut behind them.

“Christopher is in a rush.” Eddie pointed at Chris, though he couldn’t deny that he was in a rush too.

“Well I would be too, seeing how we only have 15 minutes left to get to our appointment.” Buck said, laughing. “It takes 10 minutes to get there, so let’s get moving.”

* * *

Trevor was waiting outside the courthouse when they pulled up. Eddie pulled his long-time friend into a warm hug before introducing Buck and Christopher.

“Trev, this is my fiancé, Buck and this is our son, Christopher.” Buck shook his hand.

“Trevor Morgan. You two must be very lucky, because the last time we saw Diaz so dressed up was during our high-school prom.” Trevor smirked, nudging Eddie. He laughed at the memory, the last dance before they’d graduated. “Okay, we can catch up later, but we’ve got a tight window to get you guys married, so let’s do that first.”

Trevor led them inside. Christopher sat in the waiting room as Buck and Eddie stood a little further to fill out the marriage license application.

“What do you need from us?” 

“Birth certificates, evidence of previous marriages and dissolution, driver’s licenses,” he listed quickly, now a professional.

Trevor passed them the application form. Buck filled out the top with his information before passing it to Eddie.

“Do you guys want to keep your original last names, or change it?” The two of them froze. They hadn’t thought of that.

“If we file a name change on here, does that mean all of our legal documents need to be changed as well?” Buck asked.

“The easy answer is yes. If you choose to get married, once you two get the registered certificate, you’ll have to submit a name change with the social security administration, vehicle registration, passport office, so on. You can choose to do the same for Christopher, too.”

“What’s the hard answer?” Eddie hadn’t even known about these things, not even through his first marriage. Shannon had never mentioned the name changes, though he knew her passport had Shannon Diaz on it.

“It’s confusing to have all these names bouncing around. It’s a personal decision, but once you file a name change with the marriage license application, a lot of states want you to submit name change forms within a month. By the Constitution, every US citizen has this right where you can legally just start using your new name, but the problem with that is that government agencies probably won’t recognize it. It’s just easier to change all of your accounts; might take a bit but it’s worth it.”

Eddie pulled Buck aside, knowing this was a private decision. “What are you thinking?”

“I’m not sure. It might get a little weird at work to have Bobby call us both by the same name, right?” Buck chewed on a hangnail, a nervous habit that drove Eddie insane. “I kinda like the sound of Buckley-Diaz, though.”

Eddie heaved a breath of relief. “I was thinking the same thing. We can continue professionally as Buckley and Diaz, but I think I want to make us the Buckley-Diaz family, too.”

“Let’s ask Christopher.” Buck gave him a blinding smile before they walked over to the boy who was flipping through a sports magazine. “Hey Chris, can we ask you something?”

“Yeah?”

“What do you think about changing our last name to Buckley-Diaz, instead of just Diaz?” Eddie asked, holding his breath. Chris’ face scrunched up cutely.

“Christopher Buckley-Diaz,” he whispered, testing the name. Eddie felt himself tearing up at the mere sound of it, and a quick look at Buck showed that he wasn’t faring any better. “I like it a lot! It sounds awesome!”

The two of them laughed as they walked back to where Trevor was waiting. “We’ll change our name to Buckley-Diaz.”

“Sounds great. Just give me a minute to get this license sorted and then we can move onto the ceremony.”

“Is your brother performing the ceremony?” Eddie asked. Trevor’s brother, Nathan, was three years younger than them, but had become a marriage officiant back home. He was working for some security consultant team now, but he was still qualified to officiate weddings in California.

“Yeah, he’s busy putting on his robes in the bathroom.” Trevor jerked a thumb in the direction of the office where Eddie would marry Buck within the next ten minutes. Eddie chuckled at the disgruntled look on Trevor’s face; he fooled no one with that look. Trevor and Nathan Morgan were as thick as thieves.

Buck’s hand squeezed his own as Trevor disappeared into the back office. “Ready?”

He hated that he waited so long to see what was so important to him. It seemed backwards to have been faux-dating someone else up until last night, and marrying his best friend today. 

But backwards was their middle name, and Eddie wasn’t about to jinx the best thing in his life. He had absolutely no qualms about marrying Buck. Not even a lick of nervousness.

“Yeah. I’m not ready for the hell our friends and family will rain on us, but I’m ready to be married to you.”

Buck laughed, sneaking a glance at his phone. “Maybe I’ll spill the beans to Maddie on a video call.”

“She’ll definitely kill you,” Eddie snorted. Maddie was likely to give him the most brutal shovel talk ever, if she didn’t kill him for marrying her brother without asking her.

“Yeah but at least she’ll cool down before she gets back here.”

“Buck, Eddie, Christopher, let’s do this,” Trevor called from the double doors. The two of them stood up. Just as they were about to step in, a woman clad with two cameras came whirling in the courthouse, racing and nearly plowing them down.

“Sorry, Buck, I got caught in traffic,” Buck laughed and gave her a side-hug.

“Not a problem, I called super last-minute. Maya, meet Eddie and Christopher. Eddie and Christopher, this is Maya. She’s a friend who does wedding photography.” Eddie shook her hand and watched as she chatted with their ever-social son. Buck and Eddie trailed behind, fixing their clothes and hair.

“When did you find time to call a photographer?” Eddie asked quietly. He knew he’d forgotten _something_ in his haste.

“My wedding present to you. I thought we should have the pictures, and Maya’s great at it. She’s been looking for work, so I took a chance and called her while you were getting the ring.”

“Better give her an extra big Christmas present, then.” He was grateful that the three of them had shown up on Christmas to help them today.

“Who’s your witness?” Nathan asked after the introductions were over. Nathan, who was decidedly not dressed in robes, rather a black shirt and jeans. Eddie smirked at Trevor’s gobsmacked look at Maya as she set up one camera to film the ceremony.

“Christopher,” Buck answered. Him and Eddie pulled their respective rings out of their pockets and passed them to Chris, who would also be their ring-bearer.

Maya arranged the two of them by a decorative wood wall where the sunlight streamed through the windows, positioning Nathan behind them. This way, there was no desk or anything to get in the way of the photos.

“Let the ceremony begin!” Trevor hooted once before quieting down at Nathan’s sharp look. Eddie laughed before pulling Buck close, sliding his hand in his almost-husband’s.

“We have gathered together here at this time to share in the joy and love of Evan Buckley and Edmundo Diaz. May the love and affection that has brought you to this point continue to be a blessing to you and your family.”

As Nathan spoke, Eddie couldn’t stop his wide smile, lost in Buck’s watery eyes. He could feel his dampen, too, at the emotional day. His gaze roamed over Buck’s familiar face, settling on the deep lines at the corner of his mouth as he grinned widely. It was the grin that made his heart do acrobatics in his chest.

“The marriage contract between Evan and Eddie has permanent legal standing, as both are free to marry one another and we are serving as witnesses to it.” They all laughed at Nathan switching to Eddie’s more common, pronounceable name. “By means of this ceremony, they will become united in a special new way with their son, Christopher. To this moment they bring the fullness of their hearts to share with one another; they bring dreams which bind them together in spirit; they bring their individuality, which will be preserved, but out of which will emerge their life together.”

Nathan turned to Buck first.

“Evan, do you take Eddie to be your husband to live together with him in the lawful covenant of marriage? Do you swear to love him, comfort him, honor and keep him, in sickness and in health, and, forsaking all others, be faithful to him as long as you both shall live?”

“I do.” Buck’s breath was shaky but his words were strong as he held onto Eddie tighter.

“Eddie, do you take Evan to be your husband to live together with him in the lawful covenant of marriage? Do you swear to love him, comfort him, honor and keep him, in sickness and in health, and, forsaking all others, be faithful to him as long as you both shall live?”

“I do.” Briefly, he registered the flash of Maya’s cameras as they spoke.

“Christopher, could you bring the rings?” They turned to him who passed Buck a ring first. He stared down at the metal for a second before looking back at Eddie.

“Eddie, when you walked into the 118 three years ago, I almost hated how perfect you were.” Titters sounded around the room but Eddie ignored them as he kept his eyes on Buck. “When I saw you for the first time, I didn’t think we’d end up here, having an impromptu wedding because we’re too impatient.

“I’m known for being reckless with everything, but the one thing I’ve never been able to be reckless with is you and Christopher. You two so easily pulled me into your fold and it was the most natural thing in the world for my world to start revolving around you two. So if anyone tells me that marrying you after dating for less than 12 hours is reckless, I’ll just tell them that it was worth it. Because it is, and it will always be.

“I fell in love with you while you were busy scolding a door in Spanish for slamming shut on your fingers. Then again when you decided that you could be a masterful cook and almost burned down the kitchen. And again, and again. There’s no coming back from that sort of crazy I want in my life. No matter what life throws at us, Eddie, I promise to stand by you through it all, because I’ve got your back and you’ve got mine. Whether an earthquake, a tsunami, or whatever else my luck drags us through, I promise to love and cherish you through it all.” By now, Eddie was smiling in the middle of his tears, but Buck wasn’t finished yet, his own eyes glistening as his voice shook.

“With this ring, I pledge my vows to you and promise to cherish you and Christopher for as long as I live. I give you this ring as a symbol of my vow, and with all that I am, and all that I have, I honor you.” Buck slipped the metal onto Eddie’s left ring finger, the exchange blurry through the haze of tears. 

Christopher passed Eddie Buck’s ring, patting each of their hips on his way back to where Trevor was standing. Eddie took a quick second to compose himself before he tried to remember what he’d wanted to say.

“Buck, you know I’m the worst with my words, and I suck at communicating, but I’m going to try for you.” The love of his life smiled at him, squeezing his hand. Eddie felt his voice get thick with emotions but managed to push past it. “When I first saw you at the station, I thought we’d be stuck in a competing war of wills for the rest of our lives. I still wasn’t quite sure if moving to LA was the right choice, but the second you shook my hand outside that ambulance, I started to look forward to what the future held for Chris and I in an unknown city.

“You stepped right into my life, armed to the teeth with everything you could to make sure I wasn’t alone anymore. Even though there were a thousand things about me you didn’t know about, just like I hadn’t known about you. You pulled my kid into your heart without a second glance from the first second you met him, and from then, I’ve known that I wanted you in my life forever. Because you’ve got my back, and I’ve got yours.

“Everything we’ve done for the past three years has led us towards this courthouse. Whether it be that elf, or Chim and Hen’s knowing looks, or Abuela’s pushing me, or Pepa’s look from that first day in the hospital, everyone seemed to have it in writing how much I love you. Everyone except me, apparently. I didn’t even realize how far gone I was until Christopher spelled it out for me.” Eddie winked at their son, who blinked meaningfully in answer, earning him a laugh from everyone.

“Abuela believes strongly in fate, and she used to tell me that soulmates were people you worked towards, people who you would always gravitate to. And before you, I didn’t give the words enough credit. But it’s true, Evan; if soulmates exist, you’re mine.” Buck, the lovable, emotional man he was, had tears streaming down his face. “I’m so glad I chose to rush to your apartment last night, because if I hadn’t, we might not be having this moment today. But I have no doubt that we found our way back to each other. 

“I’m still not quite sure when exactly I fell in love with you, but I know that I walked in with my eyes wide open, even if my brain didn’t get the memo. I know that I fell in love with all your little mannerisms, like researching everything under the sun, cooking amazing meals, holding the two of us afloat when the nightmares got too much, biting hangnails even though it drives me crazy, yelling at me for not sorting my laundry. I can’t promise only happy times, but I do promise that I’m with you every step of the way. I will always choose you. If I had a choice for the rest of my life, I will _always_ choose you.

“With this ring, I pledge my vows to you and promise to cherish you and our new family for as long as I live. I give you this ring as a symbol of my vow, and with all that I am, and all that I have, I honor you.” Eddie slid the ring onto Buck’s finger, locking his words into the band of metal.

“For someone who says he sucks at words, that was beautiful,” Trevor sniffed in the background, making Chris and Buck laugh wetly. Maya stared at him for a second before offering him a handkerchief. There wasn’t a dry eye in the room.

“Now that Evan and Eddie have given themselves to each other by solemn vows, with the joining of hands and the giving and receiving of rings, and with you as witnesses. With the power vested in me by God and the state of California, on this day of December 25 in the year 2020, I now pronounce you as husband and husband. You may now kiss the groom.”

Without wasting a beat, Eddie pulled Buck into a long kiss that tasted of salt and home. Wary of their now-hooting audience, they tried to keep it PG, but even when they separated, their hands were clenched in each other’s blazers as they turned towards Christopher.

The kid fell into their arms, squeezing as tightly as his ten-year-old limbs could muster. Maya was still taking photos the whole while, even as she whooped in congratulations from behind the camera.

They signed the marriage certificate, and stood back as Christopher scrawled his own ten-year-old signature on the line too. 

Trevor clapped Eddie on the back as he pulled him into a hug. “Congratulations, guys.”

“Thank you guys for coming out today for our special day and helping us get this done.” Buck addressed all of them, Christopher now in his arms. “We really appreciate it.”

“And miss old, broody Eddie Diaz being romantic? No chance,” Nathan joked, earning a glare from him.

“That’s Buckley-Diaz to you, and I’m not old, and definitely not broody.” Eddie amended the words at Buck’s skeptical glance. “Okay, maybe I am broody. But I’m definitely not old.”

“Looks like we know who wears the pants in this relationship.” Trevor laughed, slapping a high-five with his brother while Eddie rolled his eyes.

“What does that mean?” Christopher asked innocently. 

“Uncle Trevor and Uncle Nathan can explain that one to you.” Eddie glared at the two, but he wasn’t upset at all. The two brothers froze, stumbling over each other for an age-appropriate explanation, much to Christopher’s amusement. Buck, bless his kind soul, intervened to shift the focus from the question.

“He’s a closet romantic. Imagine my surprise at finding out this morning,” he scoffed, eyes shining as he extended his free hand to Eddie. The hand with his wedding ring now glinting off it.

Eddie looked at his own for a second before realization hit him. “They’re matching! That’s why you two kept looking at each other like that!”

“Yeah!” Christopher giggled loudly, so proud to have pulled it off. Eddie showed Buck the matching ring. The only difference was that Eddie’s ring had two lines of blue and Buck’s had one.

“Very clever.” Buck flicked Christopher’s nose, laughing.

“Let’s get a few posed shots in.” Maya directed them around. First, they took a family portrait with the three of them against that wall. Then they got a shot of just their hands with the rings glinting in the sunlight. Then there were the staged photos of just the two of them in each other’s arms, which was awkward due to the four pairs of eyes solely on them. Christopher took on the role of telling them how to stand for Maya, much to Trevor and Nathan’s amusement.

“At this point, I feel like a mannequin,” Buck commented, looking exasperatingly at their audience. Eddie laughed and twisted his fingers into Buck’s belt loop, tugging him closer. That pulled a genuine smile from his husband. 

Buck was his _husband_ now. The thought made Eddie squeal a little in his head.

“Your friends and families are going to kill you if you don’t have at least decent pictures,” the photographer retorted. “And these photos are probably the best of my entire career so you two can shut up and model for me.”

“I can do that,” Eddie shrugged. “But let’s get a photo with all six of us too.”

Maya ushered Nathan and Trevor to either side of Buck and Eddie, who were now holding Christopher between them. Setting the self-timer, she raced to Trevor’s side in time for the shutter to go off.

“This better have worked,” she muttered as she dislodged herself. Trevor looked flushed in the face, and Eddie cocked a head at him.

Trevor was more than smooth with the ladies, so seeing him so flustered over the petite photographer was a shocking turn of events.

Catching his drift, Buck only laughed under his breath. His hand absentmindedly started playing with Eddie’s ring. “Don’t we need to get going?”

“We have an hour until we need to be at Abuela’s.” 

“Can we get pictures outside first?” Chris asked, lowering himself from the chair carefully. “It’s sunny outside.”

“Gotta ask Maya that, hero.” Buck turned to his friend, who was already giving them a nod of approval as she packed her cameras.

“The thing about courthouses is that there’s a certain aesthetic to them,” Maya told them as they walked back outside. “I’m gonna make this photo shoot quick but beautiful. With a day like this, there’s a lot of artistic liberty I can afford. I’m gonna have so much fun with this.”

Eddie’s eyebrows probably disappeared into his hairline at the scary excitement in her voice. Even so, he followed her instructions to the last letter. She made him stand in front of the building first, alone to take pictures of him.

What made the awkward premise worth it were the heated looks Buck was now sending him.

“Can you stop standing like a wooden board?” Maya hissed at him, low enough that his kid couldn’t hear her. “You’re hot, now make that body work.” Eddie choked on his spit at her brash words but took a deep breath and loosened up. “Much, much better.”

“Hey, Buck, Christopher, do you guys want to know why Eddie’s such a natural at this?” Trevor had a shit-eating grin on his face as he exchanged a look with his brother. 

He groaned. “No, guys, we’re not about to get into that.”

Buck’s “oh yes we are” was immediately complemented by Christopher’s excited shout of “tell us!” The two of them leaned over Nathan’s phone. Eddie hid his face in his hands, groaning loudly. The cold metal of his ring pressed into his hot face.

“This man modeled for the baseball team in high school.” Trevor wolf-whistled as Buck turned the phone towards him with wide eyes.

Maya turned to look too before laughing at him, her camera still going. “Sports shoots be like that.”

The screen showed a younger version of Eddie, clad in full baseball attire, standing in front of a grey backdrop. He was posing with a baseball bat, which was weird because he had been a pitcher.

The next image was more his speed, just him grinning while tossing a worn baseball in the air.

Eddie dreaded the next image, because it was one of him shirtless, a bat slung over his shoulders. It was worse than any baby picture of him naked because those baseball pants had been _tight._

“That was a senior charity sports calendar picture, and I wasn’t the only one who was roped into it,” he defended. “Why do you guys even have those?”

“Blackmail,” the Morgan brothers said in unison.

“If you end up teaching our kid what blackmail is, I’ll kill you myself,” Eddie threatened, slightly mollified by the sound of Buck’s booming laugh. 

“I want these pictures forever, they’re going to be hung in my apartment in huge posters,” his husband said gleefully. Nathan agreed with exaggerated gusto, throwing a triumphant wink at Eddie as he complied.

“Okay, Buck, your turn.” Now this, Eddie could get behind. Buck was a complete natural, only minimal prompting required. He nearly bit through his lip as Buck posed, smirking at Eddie the entire time.

It was the exact cocky look that Eddie remembered, the one that dared him to do something stupid. The one that Eddie now recognized to be Buck’s challenge to him to press him close. He didn’t know how he ever mistook the meaning of that look.

“Can you stop thirsting over your husband?” Trevor whispered in his ear.

“No, have you seen him?” Eddie whispered back.

“Did I hear you guys say that Buck didn’t know Eddie was romantic until this morning?” Maya asked as she dragged Eddie and Buck over to sit on the staircase, perching Christopher on the step right below them. Eddie and Buck let their legs relax on either side of the boy, smiling at each other as Maya took the picture.

“Daddy didn’t know he loved Buck until I told him yesterday.” Christopher was unnervingly proud of his hand in the turn of events. “Then we asked Buck to marry us today.”

“So you guys weren’t together before last night?”

“Yeah, I showed up at his apartment with this sleeping kid to tell him last night. Then Chris asked if we’re going to get married, and the rest is clearly history. It’s a wild story.”

After a few minutes, Maya had finally gotten the last of the photos, one of the six of them posing together on the staircase. “Thank God I didn’t show up in sweatpants like the last wedding,” she laughed as she grabbed the camera off the stand. “I think I should have these done pretty soon.”

“Thanks, Maya,” Eddie thanked her again. 

“Nah, don’t worry about it. I don’t celebrate Christmas anyway so it’s nice to be able to get out to do a hobby on my day off.” She packed her cameras away gingerly.

“Oh really? I thought you did this professionally,” Eddie asked as he picked up the other case. Buck and Nathan were busy talking about something while Trevor was no doubt showing Christopher more pictures of Eddie from high school.

“Oh, no I don’t. I work as an editor in a publishing firm, the photography thing is just a hobby. Occasionally, I’ll take on a wedding when my schedule allows it,” Maya explained, showing him a few of her photographs. “I do want to open my own wedding photography business, but I just need to sort through a few things first.”

He understood that. “You’re beyond talented though, these are so good.” She used bright colors that showed a whole new perspective to the images than what Eddie would’ve thought. “So...if we wanted you to photograph our wedding reception?”

Maya snorted. “You already have a date?”

“Well, no. But when we figure it out, will you?” Eddie laughed, but he was serious about the proposition.

“Of course. You three photograph really well, so I’m excited about this project!” she giggled, flicking through a few photos on her phone.

Eddie helped Maya pack the cases into her car before going over and nudging Trevor. “Go ask her out, idiot.”

“Why would I do that?” Trevor played it cool, but Eddie could see he was smitten by the bubbly photographer. God, was this what he had looked like pining after Buck and not even knowing it?

“This isn’t high school, go,” Eddie hissed before bidding Nathan goodbye. He sent one more meaningful look towards Trevor before turning towards his family.

Buck and Christopher were already fastened in the car, singing along loudly to the radio. Buck’s tie was gone and his coat was hanging in the back, blocking the sun from blinding Christopher.

“Well, hello there, Mr. Buckley-Diaz.” Eddie smirked as he climbed into the Jeep. Buck and Christopher cheered at the sound of their new name as Buck started driving them back home. 

“You know at some point we’re going to have to discuss the living situation, right?” Eddie pointed out as he shrugged out of his black coat. It was hot enough, even in December to wear only his sweater.

“All that adult stuff can wait until tomorrow.” Buck grabbed Eddie’s hand, placing a small kiss right on the ring. “Right now, I need to wrap my head around the fact that we’re married.”

Eddie laughed. “You and me both, darling.”

“Can I tell Abuela?” Christopher chimed in. “We can wait until they notice your rings, and then I can tell them!”

Eddie and Buck exchanged a fond look. It meant the world to have Christopher so excited, and neither of them took that for granted.

“Sounds like a plan, Chris!" Their son cheered from the back seat, so overwhelmingly happy that it made Eddie's heart swell. 

Eddie wrapped Buck’s hand in his, unable to look away from the glint of his wedding ring.

As far as miracles went, this wasn’t so bad.

* * *

**Wedding Outfits**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How was that?
> 
> Come scream at my [tumblr](https://tumblr.com/blog/zeethebooknerd)!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello!!
> 
> We're back with the reactions!! This chapter got so long that I ended up having to split it anyway :// I'm sorry about that! The last and final part will be up soon as well, but in the meanwhile, I hope you enjoy this fluff monster!!
> 
> Just to be clear, [Ms. Ari](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ariquitecontrary/) has a guest appearance down here ;)

They ended up being late for dinner. 

Abuela had wanted them to show at 5:00 to help set up, but naturally, they were pulling into her driveway at 6:15. 

They had gone home after the courthouse, to relax together for a bit before they realized that they’d fallen asleep on the couch while finishing _A Christmas Carol_ from the morning. By the time Buck jerked awake, it was already 5:30. He’d woken the other two up, the three of them rushing around to change into something more casual before racing out the door to make it to Abuela’s at least before dinner.

“Great impression to make on your husband’s family,” Buck muttered to himself, now agitated as he picked up the fruit salad and the cookies Eddie had baked. He hated being late. Eddie noticed the tension bunched in Buck’s shoulders and rubbed a hand comfortingly at the small of his back.

“It’s just Abuela and Pepa. And one of my sisters and a couple other cousins,” Eddie assured him, taking one plate off his hands. Christopher was already climbing Abuela’s porch, eager to see the other kids Buck could hear.

“Not your parents?” He relaxed a little, then immediately felt like a jackass. Sue him, he needed time to prepare for this. Eddie clearly wasn’t offended as he shook his head.

“Nah, they usually don’t come up during Christmas, they come during Thanksgiving. Possibly New Year’s Day. That’s when practically everyone makes it.” Eddie stole a quick kiss before shutting the trunk. “You can pin the blame on me if you have to.”

Buck only snorted. “Oh don’t worry, I won’t need to. They’ll automatically pin it on you.” 

“Not even four hours into our marriage and you’re already throwing me under the bus.” Eddie rolled his eyes while the two walked up. Buck could feel himself grow nervous for the first time today. Objectively, he knew that Abuela and Pepa loved him. “Hey, it’ll be okay. They already love you. And I love you, and you make me and Chris happy.” 

“I know.” Buck squeezed Eddie’s fingers once before balancing the plate with his left hand, hiding the ring in plain sight. The ring he still wasn’t able to stop looking at.

Once again, Christopher had excitedly drafted a plan. They were to act as they normally did, and see who figured it out first. All three of them thought it would be Abuela but with a house full of people, who knew?

Eddie knocked on the door, smoothing Chris’ hair down as he did so. An unfamiliar woman opened the door, gasping as she pulled Chris into a hug first.

“Oh _mijo,_ you’ve gotten so big!” She rambled something else in Spanish that Buck didn’t catch before turning to Eddie and flinging her arms around his neck. Eddie laughed and hugged her back before turning towards him.

“Sophia, this is Buck. Buck, this is my oldest sister.” Buck extended his hand for her to shake, unsure of what the formality here was but she dragged him into a hug too.

“I’ve heard so much about you, it’s so nice to finally meet you!” Her and Eddie looked very similar, with the same sloping nose, full lips, and thick, dark hair, enough that they could pass as twins. While Eddie’s eyes were like warm chocolate, Sophia’s were coal black.

“Likewise,” Buck grinned at her, already feeling his nerves settle. 

“Is that Evan and Christopher? This late?” Pepa’s voice came from inside. Eddie winced at the lack of his name but pushed Buck inside first, effectively hiding behind him. He only laughed as he walked in behind Christopher, greeting Josephine and Isabel with a kiss on the cheek and placing the tray down.

“With Eddie in tow, yeah. Merry Christmas, Pepa, Abuela. Sorry we’re late.” Buck turned to his now-pouting husband, snickering at the childish look as Sophia pulled his cheeks.

“I thought I told you to leave Edmundo at home,” Abuela teased as she hugged Buck and then her properly-chagrined grandson. Christopher had long since ditched them to scurry off to where his cousins were playing board games.

“I’ll leave Buck and Christopher here if that’s what you want,” Eddie bartered playfully, trying to get back in her good books. Abuela’s eyes lit up at the suggestion as she giggled. Buck’s chest warmed at the unbridled love, even as he turned to help Pepa, shaking his head at the pair.

“Anything I can do?” He followed her into the kitchen, which was now laden with a variety of food that made his stomach rumble. Their breakfast had been big enough to not garner lunch, but now he was famished.

The house smelled cozy, like spice, tomato and chillies. There were trays of dishes that Buck had learned to cook from Abuela, mostly ones that he loved. It didn’t miss his eye that Abuela had also made Eddie’s favourite _pozole verde_.

“You can tell me where that ring came from.” Buck choked on the piece of carrot he’d snagged. Pepa only smirked bemusedly at him as she leaned across the fridge. He smiled bashfully at her, his face no-doubt red now.

“It was supposed to be a surprise,” he said weakly. Pepa raised a knowing eyebrow.

“Oh it’s a surprise. alright. Want to explain it?”

“Eddie and I got married this afternoon.” Josephine’s eyebrows shot up as Buck slowly stepped back. Clearly, she wasn’t expecting that.

“Eddie? You married _Eddie?_ Today?” He nodded, absently twisting the ring between his fingers.

“We were sure about this, and I’m still sure about it because I love him but I don’t want you guys to be mad at me or him for practically eloping after only being together for a few hours because-” He started rambling nervously, hoping his voice wasn’t carrying. Pepa came closer to grip his shoulders, looking confused at his freak-out.

“Hey, hey, _cálmate, hijo_. No one will be upset. I am so glad you came into my Eddie’s life, because my nephew is happier than he has ever been. And Christopher too.” Pepa drew him into a hug, smoothing a hand down his back. “You are the best partner for him, Evan; I saw that when I met you for the first time. I do not care how you two got married, as long as you are happy. _Felicidades_ , _mi hijo_.”

“Thank you, Josephine. I promise I won’t hurt him.” She only brushed her fingers across his cheek affectionately.

“You two would die before hurting each other, and this I know.” Then she grinned. “Don’t tell him I found out. I have to make fun of him first. And you must show me pictures.”

“We thought Abuela would find out first. Christopher’s excited to be the one to break the news.” Buck admitted, laughing lightly. Eddie was loved so brightly by his grandmother and aunt, and it showed. That’s what made this the perfect meet-the-family, if Buck had ever heard of one. Pepa only scoffed, directing him to pick up the tray of burritos and stick them in the oven to stay warm. 

“Trust me, _mijo_ , I know my mother. She is a smart woman. She probably already knows.” With one more meaningful glance his way, she left the kitchen. Buck only stared after her. 

Shaking off the initial surprise, he went to pick up the dish just as Eddie came in to set the fruit salad in the fridge, a brilliant smile on his face. 

“Did you make it up to her?” Buck asked.

“Obviously, no one can resist the Eddie charm,” he boasted, pulling Buck close with two fingers hooked in his belt loop, yet again. "Clearly, not even you."

“You know they’re going to find out if you keep putting your hands on me,” Buck grumbled. Secretly though, he quite liked this Eddie; playful and a little dangerous. For such a private person, it was a side of him he’d never seen before.

But then again, he hadn’t been the object of his affections until last night either.

“I can’t help it.” His tone was fond, but a little heated and definitely X-rated. Buck flushed as Eddie’s gaze raked down his body, just like he’d done to Eddie many times before. Before he did something stupid like jump Eddie in Abuela’s kitchen, he untangled himself from his husband and grabbed the burrito tray to stick in the oven. 

“You can wait until tonight.” Buck kissed the corner of his mouth to placate him before he left. Pepa only arched her eyebrow at him as they came out, careful to keep her knowing expression hidden from Eddie, who had made a beeline to make sure Christopher was settled. 

Before he knew it, Buck had a can of soda in his hand and he was parked on the couch, deep in conversation with Eddie’s sister, who was introducing him to her husband and two kids. Somewhere down the line, Eddie had joined them and Sophia resorted to switching gears to talk about embarrassing stories of Eddie as a kid.

“Then he decided that he absolutely had to have a bright red popsicle, and so Dad got him one. He was wearing a white shirt that day, by the way. The popsicle melted all over him and by the time he was done, he looked like he’d been part of a crime scene.” It was an amusing image, a 5-year-old, round, chubby, _adorable_ , Eddie pouting like a child and coming out of a dessert spree looking like he’d committed a murder. “Mom still has pictures of that.”

“Wow, first Trevor and Nathan, now you,” Eddie complained, tugging good-naturedly on his sister’s braid.

“You met Trevor and Nathan?” Sophia’s eyes lit up at that as she cackled gleefully. “They probably have so many other stories. Be thankful Abuela hasn’t pulled out the childhood album yet.”

“Yeah, they told Buck and Christopher about the charity calendar incident.” Buck laughed at the memory; Eddie had been a gorgeous teenager as well, which was unfair really. 

“Maddie would be more than happy to tell you about my childhood. Trust me, there’s a lot going on over there.” He shook his head, taking a drag from his can. Maddie would get along swimmingly with Sophia, since both of them liked to pull their younger brother’s leg to the point of no end.

Incessant vibration from his phone dragged his attention away from the conversation. He expected it to be Maddie, boasting more details about her trip, but surprisingly it was Maya, who was sending him images from this afternoon.

The very first image had Buck grinning like the Cheshire Cat, even as his vision blurred a little. It was a picture of the two of them leaning into one another, foreheads pressed together. This particular shot was right after Nathan pronounced them married, right after the kiss. They were holding onto each other tightly, fingers twisted in fabric.

The next image was one of the staged ones that actually ended up looking pretty natural. Eddie was leaning in, his nose bumping along Buck’s as the two grinned widely at each other. Then right after that was a candid of Eddie’s fingers hooked in Buck’s belt loop, which seemed to be Eddie’s favourite way of keeping him close.

The next one was a picture of them hugging Christopher and smiling at each other over the kid’s shoulders. Instantly, Buck knew that it would be one of his favourites.

He mused that this was the worst time to be looking at these pictures (not to mention rude) because anyone could lean over the couch to see them after noticing his goofy grin, but he couldn’t look away. It was actual proof that him and Eddie had gotten married and he wasn’t living in a dream sequence.

Maya had edited the images beautifully, especially the one of them on the stairs. He grinned wider as he saw the pictures of Eddie, who looked so heartwarmingly gorgeous in his charcoal suit. 

There was one of his husband posing while adjusting his cuff link, a candid of him laughing at something Buck and Christopher had said, and another with his head in his hands. Maya’s expertise clearly showed here, because that last one hadn’t been a posted shot. It’d been an expression of his exasperation over the baseball pictures.

She had turned it into an aesthetic photo of Eddie’s thick hair spilling over his nimble fingers, the ring glinting in the sunlight, nestled on tan skin. The two blue lines on the ring shone brightly in the edit. His heart swelled at the sight.

Buck was speechless at the sheer amount of talent, and how quickly she’d gotten back to them with these.

 **Maya:** Sorry for the spam. These aren’t all of them, but a few to get you started ;)

Buck quickly typed out a long expression of gratitude before passing the phone to Eddie. He watched Eddie’s expression lighten until he was sure they were about to get caught, a lopsided smile taking up residence on his husband’s face. The look he exchanged with Buck was private, intimate and warmed him all over.

“What’s that?” Sophia asked curiously, looking between them. Their eyes widened slightly as they tried to come up with a plausible excuse for why they couldn't stop smiling. Buck absolutely wasn’t about to lie to the Diaz family.

“Edmundo Rafael Diaz.” Abuela was looking at Eddie with narrowed eyes, a wooden spoon in hand threateningly. With a jolt, Buck realized that her gaze was on his very visible wedding ring from where he was holding Buck’s phone. Eddie peeked around the device to look at it too and cringed, muttering Spanish prayers under his breath as he slowly got to his feet. “Do not tell me you _idiotas_ got married without us.”

The room exploded into a fury of shouts, indignation and excitement as Abuela chased Eddie around the house with the wooden spoon, the man stopping periodically to plead with his grandmother to _listen_. Buck knew Eddie was just playing with her, being careful of Abuela’s hip, but her rage was palpable. She moved faster than Buck had assumed she would, her spoon rapping on Eddie’s arms lightly.

The chaos almost made the quaint house shake. Even the children had abandoned their game of Chutes and Ladders to come see their Tío Eddie being scolded. Christopher looked highly amused at his dad trying to escape, clapping along all the other children who were rooting for Abuela.

Buck had no idea where to go or where to look, but somehow, he ended up standing right in front of Abuela with wide eyes while Eddie cowered behind him again. While Eddie was busy hiding his face in Buck’s back, Abuela only winked at him.

Relief spread through him. He’d been so worried that his in-laws wouldn’t accept him, and that Abuela would be genuinely mad at them.

Naturally, Buck stepped aside, smirking at his husband who was looking at him with a glare of utmost betrayal.

“You promised me in sickness and in health, Evan!” Eddie’s jaw dropped just as Abuela caught hold of his ear, twisting it. Eddie yelped, begging his grandmother to let him go while the children cheered on from the sidelines. It was comical, really.

“How dare you marry without even letting us know?” she ranted, rapid-fire Spanish coloring her words right in the middle of everyone now swarming Buck.

“You married my _brother?_ ” Sophia squealed, grabbing his hand to look at his ring while she gushed. “Julio, look at this, they’re so cute!” Sophia’s husband, a quiet man to his wife’s chirpy nature, smiled and congratulated him. Buck thanked him quietly as two of his cousins came to do the same, ribbing Eddie all the while.

“It was a surprise! Christopher was going to tell you!” Eddie was clearly flustered by no one listening to him because he shouted over everyone’s voices. “Okay, stop!” His tone held the echo of an Army man’s command, which really had no business being that hot. Instantly, the house quieted. Buck grinned widely as he made his way back to Eddie’s side. “Christopher, tell them.”

The kid in question sighed and shook his head at the two of them. “Buck and Daddy got married this afternoon, because Daddy realized he loved Buck and we wanted to make Bucky part of our family forever.”

“See?” Almost absently, Eddie’s hand reached to wrap around Buck’s while the other gestured around the room wildly.

“We have a few pictures if you want to see them,” Buck offered. “Not all of them have come through, but I have a few. That’s what we were looking at, our photographer just sent them.”

“That’s why you saw Trevor and Nathan today!” One of Eddie’s cousins smacked her head in understanding. Arianna, if Buck remembered correctly.

“What does that have to do with anything?” Pepa asked, satisfied after having yanked Eddie’s chain.

“Trevor Morgan, Pepa! Remember him? Eddie’s friend from high school?” Sophia tried to jog her aunt’s memory.

“Is he the one whose brother is a priest?”

“Nathan isn’t a priest, he works in security consultation, but he’s qualified to officiate. He officiated our marriage and Trevor helped us get the license. Buck’s friend Maya did the photograph,” Eddie explained, letting go of Buck to plop down on the sofa. Buck had learned that Nathan was a member of the clergy at a church, but he hadn’t seemed too keen on talking about it, so Buck hadn’t pushed. 

“Show us the pictures, Tío Buck!” Before Buck could even register his newfound title, he found himself swarmed with a bunch of kids trying to pull his phone out of his hand. 

Now normally, Buck thought himself to be pretty good with kids. He loved them and they loved him. But when there were five kids zeroed in on one common goal, all at or under the age of ten, Buck was in danger of falling flat on his butt.

As they quickly found, cramming five tiny faces into one tinier device fared well for no one.

Before things could escalate, Julio intervened. “How about...we link Tío Buck’s phone to the TV?”

A chorus of “Yeah!” rang out as all the kids raced to the litter themselves around the living room. Chris perched himself on Eddie’s lap while Buck sent a grateful look to Julio.

“It was just like this when Sophia and I got married too. Granted, everyone had attended, but we spent one entire night just looking at the digital wedding album.” The kind man laughed as they got to hooking up Buck’s phone to the flat screen. Well, Julio did. Buck was hopeless when it came to things like that.

“There isn’t enough for us to spend the entire night, but maybe we’ll be able to tide everyone over before dinner,” he joked.

Buck loved the Diaz family. There was never a dull moment with them, even if it was just Abuela and Pepa. He’d joined the pair of them multiple times, but it was the first time he was meeting anyone else, outside of Eddie’s probationary ceremony.

They got comfortable as Buck sat cross-legged on the ground with the rest of the kids, swiping through the photos so they reflected on the TV. He craned his neck to see them, Sophia and Julio’s daughter Silvia now sitting right with him. The 4-year-old was clearly comfortable enough to start tracing patterns on his pants as the two joked around.

On the bigger screen, the pictures were grander. He flicked through them, listening happily to the chatter of the Diaz family around them. More gushing resounded at a photo of Buck, Eddie and Christopher, the boy held between them as they grinned at the camera.

“I knew it. The second I met Buck for the first time in the hospital with Eddie, I knew they were going to get together,” Pepa boasted.

“You did not, Tía, we'd literally just met. I was still married,” Eddie said. Buck laughed at his husband’s indignation. It was true; neither of them thought they’d end up here. When he’d met Eddie, he had still been so confused over Abby.

“How’d you two meet?” Sophia asked curiously. Now it was Buck’s turn to groan as Eddie whooped out a laugh.

“Oh this is awesome. It’s my turn to take revenge.” Eddie smiled devilishly at him before turning to his sister. “So Buck and I work together. My first day at the 118, everybody’s there to greet me except this man.”

Buck wished the ground would just swallow him. Not even Abuela or Josephine knew this story, both of whom were looking highly intrigued. “He was so threatened by my presence and I was so confused, I had no idea what was going on. Couldn’t figure out what I’d done to make him so mad. Buck was so territorial over the entire firehouse, practically preening.”

“In my defense, this man just shows up out of nowhere, Army veteran, Silver Star, medic, former staff sergeant and all these other things Bobby kept going on about, and I’d done literally nothing but be a firefighter in my life.”

“That is so not true. You were a SEAL for a while,” Eddie admonished, just like he did every time Buck tried to downplay himself.

“For literally the training, Eds.”

“You didn’t go ahead with it?” Julio asked. It was a common question from everyone who heard Buck had done the SEAL training.

Buck shrugged. “It wasn’t about the physical part. They wanted people to flip a switch in their head to turn off all their emotions, and that wasn’t for me.”

“How’d you two become friends? And then get together? And what magic have you bestowed upon this man, because I don’t think I’ve heard Eddie talk this much in one night, ever.” The other of Eddie’s cousins, Daniel, spoke, beaming at the man in question. 

“We had an emergency one night where someone had gotten in an accident with a live grenade,” Eddie explained, keeping the details sparse for the sake of the children. “We couldn’t take the man to the hospital because there was a chance it would’ve gone off. Buck and I coordinated with LAPD and the bomb squad to get that live grenade...away from the man.”

There hadn’t been anything like that in any other emergency, that was for sure. 

“And that was the time Eddie realized that I’m the most amazing person on this planet,” Buck continued, Silvia now having sat straight on his lap to play with his birthmark. Eddie shook his head, smiling around his can. “Oh, and he ended up blowing up an ambulance, did he mention that?”

Abuela giggled loudly at that as another round of laughter rang out at Eddie’s expense.

“Hey!” His husband protested. “It was because of the proximity sensor. The man with it got out of range and the truck…”

“Went ka-boom!” Silvia shouted eagerly, tugging on Buck’s hair in her excitement. He held back a wince even as he pulled her fingers free of the strands.

“Yeah angel _,_ exactly,” Eddie said adoringly, looking at the two of them softly. “The truck blew up, thankfully out of range, and the damage did _not_ come out of my paycheck.”

“That still doesn’t explain how you got together,” Sophia pointed out, relaxing back against her husband.

“I’m getting there,” Eddie scolded. The wedding photos were forgotten now, everyone focused on his words. “A few weeks later was that earthquake, and I was trying to call Chris’ teachers. At this point, no one at the station knew anything about my life outside of my resume, so it was surprising to hear for all of them. But Buck took one look at a picture of Chris and melted immediately. He was the one who drove me to his school after our shift. From then on, it’s been...a journey.” 

That was one way to put it. Eddie locked eyes with Buck, a small, private smile playing at his lips.

“Buck is my best friend, and he loves me,” Chris told the room, still happily perched on his father’s legs. Buck grinned at him and told him he was right.

“Let it be put on record to the room that I was using Eddie just for Christopher,” he teased. Eddie chuckled as a chorus of “awws” went around the room. Buck picked up the story from where Eddie left off. “That was nearly three years ago. At that time, we were both in such different places, it’s crazy to even think that we’d end up here.”

“Oh _mijo_ , we all saw this coming.” Abuela said sympathetically, ruffling Eddie’s hair.

“I only met you today, and the two of us saw it coming from how fondly Eddie and Chris talk about you,” Sophia said, sticking her tongue out at her brother.

“Well, it seems that everyone saw it before I did.” Eddie rolled his lips into his mouth.

“Yeah, I’m the one who told Daddy that he loved Buck.” Christopher was so proud of his hand in the turn of events that he couldn't stop himself from bringing it up again and again, much to the amusement of everyone else.

“That was yesterday, by the way,” Buck added, laughing at how much had gone down in twenty-four hours. 

“Yesterday? Eddito, I have told you so many times to confess,” Abuela scolded him, apparently not put off by the part about the shotgun wedding.

“I didn’t know I was in love with him then. I thought you were just teasing!” Eddie defended himself. Buck could hear the hint self-loathing in his voice, and immediately came to his rescue. He didn’t like that Eddie kept beating himself up about it.

“Eddie’s love language has never been words, it’s always been his actions. So, I knew he loved me, even if he didn’t quite know it then. We were just too scared to, you know, take that risk.” He left out the part about Ana, not sure if Eddie wanted to talk about it in front of the entire family.

He’d honestly thought that there had been something between them. Up until Eddie had started going out with Ana, Buck had completely believed that Eddie cared for him the same way Buck cared for him. He’d trusted that Eddie would talk to him when he was ready.

Then when Eddie and Ana started going out, Buck’s attention shifted to thinking that he’d just misread all the signals, which was honestly one of the most torturous periods of heartbreak in his life. But he had enough faith in his heart that it would bring Eddie back to him.

And it had. In the most beautiful way.

By now, the children were getting bored with the story, and got up to go back to their board game, leaving the adults to continue the rest. Sylvia managed to step right on Buck’s foot as she clambered out of his grip, but Buck watched her leave fondly.

With the children gone, Eddie clearly had no qualms about mentioning Ana. “Around four months ago, I started going out with this other woman. I wasn’t even sure why I did, we just did, I guess. We never dated or anything, but we’d go out together maybe twice a month? It was fun, but it wasn’t the same comfort level that I have with Buck. It was always kind of awkward, but I guess it had been kind of drilled in my head that I had to love a woman in the long term.”

This was a part that Eddie hadn’t shared with Buck. He turned from his position on the floor to look his husband in the eye.

“Not that I was having a crisis or anything, because I’ve known I was bisexual since a little bit after high school, but I don’t know, I never came to exploring that part of me. Not with the Army and then Shannon and then Chris in the mix. So then realizing that I loved a man wasn’t a shock. It was hearing that I loved Buck and hadn’t realized it. That was the catch.” The words were honest in a way Eddie usually wasn’t in front of an audience. 

“Awww, that’s adorable,” Arianna cooed. Buck tried keeping all the names straight, even though he knew this wasn’t even a fraction of Eddie’s family.

“Thanks, Ari.” Eddie tipped his can in acknowledgment to her before continuing. “Yeah, so this morning, Chris and I asked Buck to marry us, and the rest is history,” Eddie concluded, gesturing towards the TV. which was now showing a picture of the two of them standing in front of Nathan, hand in hand. “Maya is supremely talented. She was telling me about how courthouses are aesthetic or something like that, and seeing her work, I believe it.”

“The photos are so gorgeous,” she said, admiring them with a critical eye. “You two make an amazing couple.”

“Well, not to _brag_ , but we do,” Buck smirked, laughing lightly. “On a serious note, that’s Maya for you. We’ve been friends for years, and I’ve modelled in more than a few of her portfolios, which is how I knew she’d be the best choice. She has a way of seeing things that others normally wouldn’t and capturing them through her lens.”

“You’re a model!” Sophia and Pepa squealed in unison, clapping their hands in excitement. Eddie laughed as Buck’s eyes widened.

“No! No, I’m not.” He quickly denied the allegation, much to Abuela’s amusement. “Maya roped me into the photos because she needed to present a portfolio of portraits to a potential client, and hiring someone was way out of her range. She’s looking to open her own wedding photography business, so I called her for ours.”

“Honestly, she’d be great at it,” Daniel commented.

“She got this one picture of Eddie...” Buck scrolled to the one of Eddie’s head in his hands, which was now one of his favourite pictures ever. A hint of possessiveness took hold of him at the sight of his ring on Eddie’s strong fingers.

“Oh, that one came out nicely. I don’t even remember taking that.” Eddie admired his own self, leading to a bunch of scoffs around the room.

“This was taken while Eddie was trying to bury his face in his hands in embarrassment over the charity calendar pictures,” Buck explained. “When he says he doesn’t remember, he really doesn’t. Eddie actually didn’t know it was being taken. Maya managed to turn it into a display of his ring while he was wallowing.”

“Oh yes, the rings. You didn’t tell us about them.” Arianna rubbed her hands eagerly, looking at the portrait of their hands. Buck was highly amused at how much detail the Diaz family wanted, but happily complied anyway.

“They were from a shop in City Square. We got them like...maybe fifteen minutes before we had to be at the courthouse. She had silicon rings, so we picked those up too. Metal rings are not a great idea for firefighters.”

“Did either of you end up changing your last name?” Julio asked.

“All three of us did. We just hyphenated both of ours, so it’s Buckley-Diaz,” Eddie revealed, to more cheers and hooting.

“I’m so happy for you guys, oh my God,” Sophia sniffed. Buck started at the sight of her tears but Julio waved him off.

“She’s just emotional.” Sophia elbowed her husband and punched Eddie in the arm when he teased her about it.

“I am just glad you two finally figured it out. We were going crazy trying to get you two to see the light.” Abuela stood up. “Now, let’s eat.”

Buck disconnected his phone from the TV with Julio's help while Daniel called the kids to go wash up before dinner. 

Dinner was just as lively of an affair, jokes and easy-flowing conversation all around. Abuela and Josephine had gone all out to make tonight’s food. There were so many dishes, Buck didn’t know where to start. Just like at the firehouse, Eddie was seated on Buck’s left. Christopher was sitting with the other kids; Sophia and Julio had bought pizza that the kids were guaranteed to eat so they were seated separately.

Eddie’s family included Buck whole-heartedly in their fold, something that made him say an extra prayer of thanks, even though he wasn’t religious in the slightest. It was nice to have this closeness after so many years of traversing on his own. 

It wasn’t until after dinner that he got a chance to talk to Abuela on his own. He was arms deep in soap and hot water, scrubbing at the dishes while Abuela dried them. Eddie and Pepa were busy cleaning the rest of the house, while Sophia and Julio had left with their son because Silvia had fallen asleep. Apparently waking the child would have been an exercise in noise control.

“Abuela, are you really okay with me having married Eddie?” Buck held his breath, focusing on the large spot he was trying to scrub off, rather than the seeking look he knew the matriarch would have.

“Of course I am, _mijo_ , why wouldn’t I be?”

“I don’t know, maybe that you all thought it was too fast.” His voice was low, not wanting anyone to overhear. 

“Is that what scares you?” As usual, she saw right through him. Buck was terrified of hearing from any of their loved ones that they’d made a rash decision, even though his brain knew that he would never regret it. “Evan, you cannot worry about what other people think. It will drive you _loco_. You and Eddie know what is best for you two and for Christopher.”

“But you’re not just ‘other people.’ You’re his grandmother, and mine too, now that I think about, and I just…” He didn’t know how to word this. Abuela was patient with him, and let him try to find the words, even as she turned off the water. “I don’t want you guys to think I’ll ever regret marrying Eddie, even if we hadn’t been together before this. I want you guys to know that I’ll be by his side for as long as I live.” 

Abuela was quiet for a moment before she gripped Buck lightly by his shoulders, turning him slightly to face her. “You and Eddie have been in sync ever since you met and even formed a small family. All of us have seen how close you two are. Eddie trusts you in a way he did not even trust Shannon, may her soul rest in peace. It is not because he did not love her, no. It is because she did not show him she cared about him enough to stay, to stop pushing him, even when he was struggling after war.

“Do you know why we named him Edmundo Rafael? Edmundo means protector and Rafael after the angel Raphael, the God who heals. And somewhere in his life, he took both those names literally, as his purposes in life. God knows he made some mistakes, but he did everything to repent for them. I know my grandson, Evan, and he has always fought himself on every decision he makes. The last time I saw him so sure about his decisions was two years ago, at Shannon’s funeral. His parents tried to convince him to move back to Texas, but Eddie was adamant to stay here. He had an argument ready for every point his parents threw at him.” 

Buck remembered Eddie telling him about that. He remembered the stark fear that had gripped him at the thought of Eddie and Christopher leaving, even though he hadn’t known them for long.

“Love is not in our control, but marriages need work. They are not the same. You must put that love and care into your marriage, it is not present from the second you are married. It is a dedication to your partner. You must learn to work through hardships together, not apart from each other. Do you understand?” Abuela’s wisdom was literally unmatched. Buck hadn’t thought of it that way. This marriage was a sign of commitment, but it was also a commitment to go through the ups and downs of life together. He hadn’t thought of it as being something separate from love.

Buck thought about the words for a little while longer. He and Eddie had gotten married for love, and though Buck fully believed love was one of the strongest powers in the universe, a marriage was much more than that. Just like they’d said in their vows, it was promising each other to stand by every situation life threw them in.

And with the job they were in, there would be a lot of situations where they'd have no one but each other.

Abuela must’ve seen the moment the words sunk in, because she spoke up again. “That is exactly why I am not worried about you two. You _listen_. Listening is very important. And I have not seen you this happy in months, Evanito. And my Eddito has not smiled and laughed this much in years.”

“This is truly the happiest I’ve ever been.” Tears pricked at his eyes as he smiled at her around the lump in his throat. 

“You boys deserve all the happiness you can get. And I am very happy you found it in one another.” Abuela pulled him down into a warm hug, even though his arms were still submerged in soapy water.

“Thank you” was all Buck could manage, emotion choking him. The matriarch only rubbed his shoulder before going back to drying the dishes.

Working in tandem, Buck finished scrubbing the rest of the pots and pans, swiftly moving around the kitchen to help her clean up a few other things.

“Eddie, what are you and Buck doing tonight?” Josephine asked as Buck came out from the kitchen to see his husband vacuuming the carpet. 

“Um...going home?” He looked confusedly at Buck, who simply shrugged in the same confusion.

“On your wedding night?” Pepa gasped. Buck froze where he was standing, a red flush crawling up his neck. He hadn’t thought of it like _that_ ; obviously he was looking forward to getting Eddie to himself for a night, but with everything, he hadn’t quite thought of it as exactly _that_. By the looks of the deep blush that kissed Eddie’s cheeks as he fumbled with the vacuum, he hadn’t thought of it like that either.

“Well, yeah, where else are we going to go?” Eddie managed to shake the surprise enough to turn the loud device off and give his aunt his full attention.

“Christopher can have a sleepover here,” Abuela declared. Daniel chimed in with an affirmative, since he and his twin kids were staying with them too.

“Yeah man, it’ll be fun. You two should take the night for yourselves.” He waggled his eyebrows as Arianna whistled loudly, both of them barely avoiding the flick of Pepa’s towel at the suggestive looks. If Buck’s face could flame any brighter, it did just then.

“We’d have to ask him.” He exchanged a look with Eddie. Neither of them were so worried about a night to themselves if Christopher wasn’t comfortable. “Hey, Chris, could you come here?”

“Francisca, Francisco, can you come here too please?” Daniel called out to his twins. Buck smiled at the twinning names, and then at the three kids who were now piling in through the back door, where they’d been working off a sugar high.

“How do you three feel about a sleepover with Pepa and Abuela?” Eddie asked, grinning at the answering cheers. “That answers that. You sure you don’t mind, Abuela? Pepa?”

“Of course not, you need to take a breather sometimes. I don’t get enough time with my grandkids as it is.” She looked pointedly at all three of them. Buck had found out that Daniel was a single father, because someone had dropped the twins at his doorstep mere days after they were born. Buck didn’t know if Daniel had known their mother or not, but he admired the man for raising two adorable kids on his own.

The sleepover had been decided for them, so all that really needed to be done was bid the kids, Arianna, Abuela and Pepa goodbye.

“Hey, you need a ride somewhere?” Eddie asked Daniel as they were putting on their shoes, who shook his head.

“Nah, I’m just going to go for a run and come back. It was really nice meeting you, Buck, congratulations once again.” Buck thanked him again as Eddie slipped his hand in his. 

“That went well.” Eddie kissed him as soon as they were in the car. Buck smiled against his lips and pulled away to start the car.

“So, Edmundo Rafael.” Buck stifled a laugh as Eddie made a choked sound of embarrassment. “Hey, it suits you. I like learning things about you.”

“I’m so asking Maddie for all your secrets,” Eddie grumbled as Buck pulled out onto the street. “I feel like everyone spilled all my secrets in one day.” He laughed at his ever-broody husband.

“You know we’re going to have to do this exact thing at least twice more.” Buck was looking forward to their reactions, but not to the endless teasing they were going to have to endure from their found family. “Bobby has a thousand horror stories of my life, and that’s only from the past four years. Imagine.”

Eddie laughed loudly, his wide smile glinting in the lights they were zipping past. 

“Are you going to wait until Maddie and Chim come back to break the news to them?”

“I feel like we should tell your parents first. But yeah, I would rather Maddie find out before everyone else because she’ll definitely kill me otherwise. We can just ask Chim to be quiet.” 

“We can call them tomorrow. Tonight though…” Eddie let himself trail off, Buck’s posture automatically tensing in anticipation. “I want you to myself tonight.”

“You have me,” he said softly. Eddie smiled over at him and linked their hands.

The shift in energy was palpable, going from a simmer to red-hot flame near immediately. Want, desire and need clung to them as Buck pushed the vehicle to go a little faster, anxious to just get home already. There was something special about having their first time be as a married couple, and he wasn’t about to spend the entire night just _driving_.

By Eddie’s soft chuckle, Buck assumed that he must’ve been thinking on the same lines.

Eddie watched him ardently as the two entered the now-quiet house, a stark contrast to the hustle and bustle of Abuela’s. Buck set the car keys down with a soft _plink_ on the mantle, the sound echoing in the silence.

There was something special about the intent with which they came back home, too.

They reached for each other at the same time, drawing the other impossibly closer until it felt like they were ready to crawl into each other’s skin. Buck could feel every hard line of Eddie’s body against his, ready to tear whatever barrier remained between them. He flicked his eyes downwards towards Eddie’s lips and back up again, content to roam his gaze over the planes of his husband’s face. 

This was something he never thought he’d be allowed to do.

Anticipation stretched taut between them. A pulsing need settled beneath his skin, pushing Buck to _take._

He captured Eddie’s lips with his own as they moved further into the house, a mess of limbs and energy, gravitating to one another like a moth to flame. Eddie managed to get them twisted around enough to direct Buck to the bedroom, keeping them connected the whole while.

Eddie flicked on a lamp, casting a dim glow through the sparse room. Silently, he padded to where Buck was patiently waiting, fingers coming to slowly slip each button free. It was torturous, to have him so close and yet not be touching him.

Putting himself out of his misery, he reached out to slip his hands beneath Eddie’s shirt, blindly exploring the warm skin just as Eddie did to him. His skin pebbled wherever Buck’s calloused fingertips dragged along the golden grooves and planes, pausing to flick at a nipple. Eddie groaned softly, a sound Buck wanted to taste. Heat pooled low in his core with the drag of Eddie’s nails scraping lightly along his muscles, his cock slowly filling in his jeans.

That’s what tonight was about. It was about freeing another side to their relationship, exploring one another in more than just physical ways.

Eddie finally stripped Buck of his shirt and Buck took the opportunity to pull Eddie’s Henley off. Dragging Eddie close with one arm hooked around his waist, Buck ghosted his lips along his collarbone, coaxing a moan from the other man as he nipped and suckled at the thin skin. His hips began moving in slow circles along Eddie’s, the friction delicious and hot between them. Eddie felt just as hard as he was. 

As they moved to the bed, the frantic need for each other mellowed out, shifting into a primal need to study every nook and cranny of the other man. Eddie crawled on top of him, his hazel eyes nearly black with desire. Their bodies fit together perfectly, like two puzzle pieces snapping into place. Buck’s body formed a cradle for Eddie’s frame that aligned the two men faultlessly, enough that Eddie could rock against him.

He was more than happy to let Eddie set the pace, a slow, languid exploration of his mouth. His husband took him apart piece by piece as they moved together, making him feel more vulnerable that he had been in ages. Eddie’s stubble scratched sweetly along Buck’s skin, adding a heightened layer of sensitivity.

“Eddie,” Buck whispered, guiding Eddie out from where he’d moved upwards to ghost his lips along Buck’s jaw. His husband pulled back to look him in the eye, his gaze burning so brightly with love that it made Buck’s heart swell. He was almost afraid to break the bubble of peace that had surrounded them.

With another lump lodged in his throat, he flipped the two of them over so now he was on top, the impressive bulge in Eddie's jean's digging into his thigh.

Starting at his temple, Buck pressed little kisses along the skin, teasing his husband with flashes of teeth and swipes of his tongue.

“With all that I am, and all that I have, I honor you,” Buck whispered into the sensitive skin at the hollow of Eddie’s throat, pressing another kiss where his wedding vows had just been. He smiled at the goose flesh on the golden canvas of his husband’s body, blowing cool air where his mouth had dampened the skin.

“With all that I am, and all that I have, I honor you,” Eddie repeated the words, his fingers tracing whatever part of Buck’s body he could reach as he branded the words into his skin.

Like this, they continued marking each other with the reverent words. Against the curve of Eddie’s neck, along the tattoo on Buck’s chest. Against the side of Eddie’s waist, woven into Buck’s hair. Another whisper along the cut of Eddie’s hip, another press of the words into Buck’s shoulder.

When he moved back to _finally_ kiss his husband, both of their eyes were glassy. Buck felt like the luckiest man in the universe, barely feeling like his feet were still on the ground.

“I love you so much, sweetheart,” Eddie croaked quietly, voice low and thick with a heady blend of reverence and captivation, cupping the back of his neck to drag him into a long, worshiping kiss. Nobody had ever looked at him like he was that precious before; he had always been the means to a very pleasurable end, but here, in this moment, he knew that Eddie would never see him in that way. 

Buck let himself be pressed into the mattress again, only for Eddie to whisper against his cheek. “With all that I am, and all that I have, I honor you.” 

“You don’t know how many times I’ve had to stop myself from touching you,” Buck spoke softly, moving a hand into Eddie’s hair. The thick, silky strands slipped between his fingers as he moved his thumb in circles along his temple as he gazed up at his husband. “So many times I was afraid that I’d touch you once and everything I felt for you would be burned into my skin. That you’d know and...you wouldn’t feel the same way.”

Eddie closed his eyes as he linked their left hands, ducking his head to kiss Buck again. The tenderness of the action tore him apart. He pulled back to make eye contact with him, warm, molten eyes naked with emotion. “I’d have regretted it for the rest of my life if I pushed you away. I need you to know...that if there ever was a choice, I would always, _always_ choose you.”

Buck smiled at the reminder of Eddie’s vows as he coaxed his husband’s weight back onto him, surrounding him with love and safety. He couldn’t stop his hands from ghosting along the sides of Eddie’s warm and pliant body above him, along each bump and groove of his spine, of the two indents in the dip of his waist, right above that ass that had tormented Buck more than he cared to think about at the moment.

Eddie seemed to be moving with the same slow fervour, exploring the expanse of Buck’s body with just as much adoration. He was propped up on one forearm but the other kept dragging rough, strong fingers along his skin, another expression of Eddie's love for him. It brought another wave of tears to his eyes at the feeling of being so treasured.

That night, as they moved together as one, stripped of everything but their wedding rings, Buck finally understood what making love meant. This...this was vulnerable in a way they hadn’t allowed themselves to be, intimate in a way that he hadn’t imagined sex to be. They just...fit together, so in tune with one another.

This was what the joining of two souls felt like.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How was it? I hope you all liked it! Thank you for being so patient with this series!!
> 
> The explicit wedding night scene can be found in the second part of this series!
> 
> Kudos and Comments make my day!! Thank you all <3


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello!!
> 
> Here's the last part to this fic! After this, I do have a bunch of bonus chapters, which I will posting soon, but for now, have the firefam reactions!! If you all have a prompt for a bonus chapter, feel free to comment below!
> 
> TW: There's slight angst here, a trigger warning for implied homophobia, just at the beginning.
> 
> Enjoy!

Once Christmas passed, Buck and Eddie began to set a plan. They’d gotten married, got the official stuff handled but there were so many other formalities they needed to complete.

First was the name change paperwork. Eddie and Chris surprised Buck with adoption papers two days after their wedding, leading to another tearful moment between the three of them. Buck had signed them immediately, proudly taking on the official title of Chris’ dad. 

Then there had been applying to the Social Security Administration to get new cards with their new names, then a thousand phone calls to all the various places they had accounts. It was exhausting, a lot of exchanged eye rolls as the two of them had paced around the house on hold for the fiftieth time. 

One could only listen to elevator music for so long. It was only worth it to be able to say Buckley-Diaz out loud all those times.

Next was to figure out what their living situation would be. Buck’s apartment wasn’t ideal for all three of them to live in, especially because of the stairs. There was sentimental value in keeping it, because it was Buck’s first house, where him and Eddie got together, where Eddie proposed, and a bunch of other memories. He had put a lot into renovating the space, too, and it was closer to the station and Chris’ school. But there were still a few months left on the lease, so they decided that Buck would just live in the newly-deemed Buckley-Diaz household until they figured out exactly what they wanted to do.

Then there would be HR paperwork to file, as soon as Bobby found out about their wedding. Both of them were hesitant about this, not wanting the department to separate either one of them from 118. Hell, they didn’t even want to be put on different crews. 

It was for this very reason that Buck and Eddie decided to keep it on the down-low until the 31st. They had been scheduled to work on the 28th, 29th and 30th before they had the next two days off for the New Year.

So, they reluctantly decided to slip off their rings for the three days. Bobby and Hen would be on shift with them but they would be one man down with Chimney off for the entire week. 

They understood the reason that workplace relationships were frowned upon, but professionalism had never been a problem between the two of them, and they didn’t predict it to be one even after marriage. Admittedly, Buck’s track record had been rocky at the beginning, but it hadn’t been a problem for years. Still, it didn’t hurt to make sure they could handle seeing one another in heart-stopping situations, now that they had another layer to their relationship.

When it came to Buck and Eddie, they worked in sync from day one, something that was hard to find with just anyone. Everyone knew it. Hopefully, Bobby would be able to back them up should there be an issue, now that they had a plan to prove it too.

“You can’t keep putting off calling Maddie,” Eddie called from where he was folding laundry three days after Christmas. 

They had called Eddie’s parents to tell them about the wedding the next morning, and they wisely hadn’t mentioned anything about not dating before they got married. Just like Eddie had predicted, they hadn’t been too happy about the court marriage thing. Eddie’s father was still trying to wrap his head around the fact that his son was now married to a man, but he had been vaguely polite when Buck spoke to them.

Eddie’s mother had gotten into a heated argument with Eddie about doing the best for Christopher, and giving him a stable model of what a family should look like, but Eddie had stopped her immediately. He didn’t want to stick the heterosexual model in his son’s mind, the way it’d been for him; families looked different everywhere, and both of them were cognizant of that.

Then there was the fact that both Helena and Ramon disapproved with how quickly Eddie had apparently moved on from Shannon. Buck had seen him flinch at the reminder, eyes going distant.

He’d felt a surge of anger at seeing the defeated look on Eddie’s face, at the unnecessary reminders being flung at him, for no reason. He’d simply gone over and held him tight until the murmur of his parents’ words faded away.

Buck knew that his parents’ reaction was bothering Eddie, even if he didn’t say anything, but he didn’t see a way to help the situation without making it worse. He tried telling Eddie that he would talk to them, but Eddie had just shook his head, citing that they did this for everything he did. 

It was going to have to be another one of those things that they came to terms with, because Buck sure as hell wasn’t going to leave Eddie. His parents were just going to have to trust Eddie’s decisions, something Buck knew and had just first-handedly witnessed that they didn’t do.

He wished he could provide Eddie with an in-law outside of Maddie, but the truth was, his parents weren’t even worth sharing this news with. Not before everyone else in their life. And even if he did tell them, Buck could practically hear his own parents’ disapproving voices in his head.

“Hey, you alright?” Buck had been so lost in thought that he hadn’t heard Eddie come up behind him. His husband laid a hand on his neck, scratching gently in a show of comfort. Eddie had found out rather quickly into their friendship that Buck needed a safe physical touch to ground himself. Gradually, he relaxed.

“Yeah, I was just thinking. I wish I could give you a piece of my family, just like you gave me yours,” he confessed. Eddie only smiled.

“You have. You gave me Maddie as a sister-in-law, and I got you. That’s all that matters. And to be honest with you, between the two of us, we have enough relatives and family to last us a lifetime. Trust me,” he snorted, easing Buck’s worries immediately. With a quick kiss to the top of his head, Eddie picked up his phone and passed it to him. “Call Maddie. I promise you, she’s not going to be _that_ mad.”

“You know, it was Maddie who called me out on my crush on you from the very start. Probably a day or two after I met Christopher.”

“Aww, babe, you had a crush on me, that’s embarrassing.” Eddie’s eyes twinkled at the reference. _Parks and Recreation_ had been a show they binged together, so Buck laughed at him before saying the next line.

“We’re married.” Didn’t think he’d ever get to say that, but there they were.

“Still…” His husband waved the device at him, raising one eyebrow.

Buck took a deep breath and clicked Maddie’s name in FaceTime. Almost immediately, his sister’s smiling face appeared on screen. 

“Buck! Hey, how’s it going?” He could faintly hear Chimney yelling a hello in the background. Maddie was absolutely glowing with happiness as she beamed at him through the screen. 

Without saying anything, he held up his left hand to the camera, grinning. He nearly dropped the phone at Maddie’s shriek. 

“EVAN OLIVER BUCKLEY!” She screeched loudly. Buck winced at the high-pitched sound, looking up to a highly-amused Eddie with wide eyes. Chimney sounded panicked as he asked Maddie what was wrong, clearly thinking that Buck had landed himself in the hospital again.

“This idiot just got married without us!” Suddenly, Chimney’s face was crowding the screen too. Maddie looked to be hyperventilating in the background.

“Buckaroo, tell me you didn’t get hitched before we did.”

“Sorry Chim, I’m a taken man.” He laughed at their reactions. They started talking over one another, trying to pry all the details from him. Suddenly, Maddie stopped and leaned closer, narrowing her eyes.

“Is that Eddie standing behind you? DID YOU MARRY EDDIE?” His sister was piling the questions on him one after the other. Buck almost wished that he’d recorded this call.

“Yes, on both accounts, say hello to my husband,” Buck introduced gleefully. Eddie leaned down to wave at them, beaming. They looked to be speechless.

“Oh my God. This was not part of the betting pool,” Chimney muttered, pinching the bridge of his nose. “How did this happen? I thought you were going out with Ana.”

Buck felt an unexpected pang in his chest as her name as his joy faltered a little. That was what the 118 was likely going to ask, and he’d be faced with this exact reminder at Bobby and Athena’s New Year’s dinner as well. Not that he held it against Eddie, but it would be nice to have it not thrown in his face.

“We’re going back to the betting pool comment later, Chim,” Eddie interjected, coming around to sit next to Buck on the sofa. Buck propped up the phone on the coffee table and leaned back so they were both in the frame. “And no, I wasn’t dating her. It was just...it wasn’t the right fit.” 

“I’m so confused, how did this happen? You weren’t together, were you?” Maddie asked. So they told them all the details, from Christopher spelling it out for Eddie, to Eddie showing up at Buck’s door, to them landing themselves in the courthouse. “Let me get this straight, you two got married literally immediately after confessing your undying love to one another?”

Buck’s smile slipped at the skepticism in her voice and suddenly, he felt like his heart had dropped to his knees. “Yeah, that sums it up.” Eddie noticed the sudden shift in Buck’s mood and looked at him concernedly, linking their fingers.

“Isn’t it a little too soon?” Objectively, Buck knew Maddie was just being protective. She had seen him do very impulsive things over the years, and Buck knew she was just trying to make sure he didn’t get hurt.

On the other hand, he didn’t want Maddie telling him he’d made a mistake. That he’d been reckless in marrying so soon, not to a man like Eddie. Not when he finally had a family that was just _his_ after traversing on his own for his whole life.

“I don’t know what to tell you, Maddie. This felt right to us, because we spent so much time dancing around one another, so we did it. I’m happier than I’ve been in the past twenty-five years.” He could taste the bitterness in his voice, and suddenly, he didn’t want to talk to his sister anymore. It was only the thought of not ruining her vacation that kept him seated exactly where he was, instead of storming out. 

Eddie looked at his husband’s set jaw and squeezed his hand tighter as he looked straight at the camera. It was his fault that Maddie was doubting this. They’d already gotten a botched lecture from his parents, and he hated that Buck didn’t get the reaction he wanted from his sister.

“If you’re worried about my commitment to this relationship, I can promise you that I’m all in this. I wouldn’t have asked Buck to adopt Christopher if I hadn’t been. I know it doesn’t make sense to a lot of people, but hell, when have Buck and I ever made _sense_? Ask Chim, the two of us have always just fit together. That’s all there is to it.” His words were cool and calm, but firm. There was no room left for argument in his tone. He hated seeing Buck look so crestfallen.

Maddie looked between them, speechless for once. Chim took the phone away from her and grinned at them, albeit a little apologetically. “Congratulations, guys. Does the rest of the 118 know?”

“We were going to surprise them on New Year’s,” Eddie said, seeing Buck too lost in thought to reply.

“I won’t say anything. And hey, we’re really happy for you two. It was a long time coming, and I’m glad you finally got your head out of your ass, Eddie.”

“You and me both.” While the Buckley siblings stewed in the background, Eddie and Chim wrapped up the call, a moment of kinship going through them through the device.

“Buck, babe, are you okay?” Eddie prodded softly.

“I don’t think she was worried about you,” Buck whispered. Eddie’s brow furrowed.

“What do you mean?”

“I think she’s worried about me going back to Buck 1.0. Always making stupid decisions and jumping headlong into anything without thinking twice,” he said ruefully, shifting off the couch. Eddie startled in place but managed to catch his wrist.

“No wait, let’s talk about this, babe. I don’t think that’s what worries her. I mean, you know your sister better than I do, but remember her issues with marriage?”

“Yeah. But it’s not the same. Doug was an asshole through and through, but Maddie didn’t see that when she married. She was so young too.” Buck’s fingers were beginning to fiddle together in a display of his anxiety. “You’re not anything like him. She knows you.”

“She’s just looking out for you. Trust me, Maddie is going to be so happy when she sees you happy,” Eddie said with full confidence.

As if on cue, Buck’s phone rang with her number. Eddie nodded his head towards the phone. “Talk to her, I’m going to finish the laundry.”

Buck kissed him softly before letting him go, smiling that heartbreaking smile at him. “Thank you.”

Eddie only grinned back, pressing a kiss to his head before leaving. He could hear Maddie already apologizing frantically to her brother as he walked to the laundry room. Briefly, he wondered if it was too late to say ‘I told you so.’

It was only a few minutes later that Buck came looking for him, phone in hand.

“Maddie wants to talk to you.”

“Hey Maddie.” He set down a pair of socks to focus on her sheepish-looking face. Maddie smiled apologetically.

“Sorry Eddie, I didn’t mean to make you two feel like I wasn’t happy for you.”

“Don’t worry about it. There’s nothing to be sorry for. You were just looking out for us, and we appreciate it.” Eddie winked at Buck, who looked more relaxed now, a small smile flitting on his lips.

“It was just so sudden, like I knew you guys loved each other but marriage is huge. I'm glad you two found your way back to one another. And Chim told me that you’d encouraged him to tell me that he loved me.” The man in question waved from behind her shoulder, grinning widely. Eddie laughed and nodded. He remembered saying that, though it was nearly a year ago.

“Yeah, I’d told him that tomorrow isn’t promised to anyone. Which was one of my reasons for asking Buck to marry me so quickly, because we already had our foundation. I’d wasted so much time not seeing it but...I know he’s it for me.” He spoke to Maddie but his words were for Buck, who was now blushing.

“Well, congratulations, and while you two are disgustingly cute, I’m still mad at you for eloping with my brother. But that’s for another time. Can we talk to Christopher, if he’s around?”

“Chris is at Abuela’s house today with my cousin’s kids, because they’re leaving tomorrow.” Daniel had shown up bright and early to take Chris to have a playdate with the twins. “We can call you when he comes back?”

“We’ll just send you a video for him.” Eddie just shrugged and agreed.

“When are you guys coming back?” 

“New Year’s Eve. We’ll see you at Bobby and Athena’s.” Buck nodded at the response, leaning in from the top to say bye to his sister.

Wrapping up the phone call, Buck shoved his way into the space between Eddie’s body and the dryer. Eddie laughed at him trying to squeeze into the small space but complied with his silent request for a cuddle anyway.

“I’m almost done here, you know," he pointed out, grabbing the stacks of folded clothes and dislodging Buck’s grip. He honest-to-God _whined_ as Eddie got up, pouting cutely. “Also, we better figure out what we want to say to the rest of the firehouse, because there is no way they’re going to let us take this lying down.”

“They can mind their own business for all I care,” he mumbled, standing up to plaster himself to Eddie’s back. Eddie smiled and turned his head to nudge against Buck’s temple.

It was funny; before Buck, he’d never been a tactile person. Now he couldn’t seem to get his hands off him. There had to be some point of contact between him and Buck, when they could. Eddie wasn’t sure if it was the newly married thing, or if it was just _Buck_ but hell, he wasn’t complaining.

“How about I put these away, you get the living room cleaned up and we go take a nap for a bit before Chris comes home?” No sooner than he’d said the words, Buck was comically rushing around the living room, frantically tidying things much to Eddie’s amusement. 

The second he put the last of Christopher’s clothes in his dresser, Buck was dragging him to their room. He let Buck maneuver him until the younger man was curled into Eddie’s chest, pressing them together as close as possible.

“Clingy,” Eddie teased fondly, pushing some of Buck’s soft curls back from his forehead. His husband only gave him a sleepy grin split in half by a yawn, looking unbearably adorable as he did so.

“You knew that when you married me.” 

* * *

The second they stepped into Bobby and Athena’s house on New Year’s Eve, Maddie was marching over to kiss Christopher’s cheek, hug Eddie and drag her brother off to a corner with her and Chim. Eddie only stared after them amusedly as Bobby turned to him, bewildered. “What was that all about?”

Eddie just shrugged and said, “Sisters.”

They had indeed sent Christopher a video of Maddie and Chim congratulating him on the adoption and telling him that they loved him. His son loved the prospect of calling Maddie, Aunt Maddie. Chim had insisted that he was too young to be an uncle, so naturally, Christopher had to call him Uncle Chim anyway. Buck and Eddie had laughed loudly at that as Chim had griped about the _audacity_.

The kid in question had meandered off to where May, Harry and Denny were, probably spilling the beans to the three of them already. It probably wouldn't long before _all_ the kids turned to calling Chimney, Uncle Chim. 

That left Eddie to take the cheesecake they’d brought to the kitchen, where Athena was busy filling wine glasses.

“Happy New Year’s Eve, Athena. Thanks for having us tonight.” He squeezed her shoulder on his way to put the homemade cheesecake into the fridge.

“Oh no, thank _you_ for coming. Did you make that cake?”

“Yeah, actually. It’s my aunt's recipe and while I’m hopeless with anything that requires a stove, I get by on baking,” Eddie shrugged. He may be hopeless with the stove but Buck definitely wasn’t, which had worked out beautifully even before they’d gotten married.

Six days since the fact and Eddie was still busy wrapping his mind completely around his new reality. 

Athena only shook her head as she pulled out a beer to press into his hand. “Sounds like Michael to me.”

“Oh I know that's not true. Where is he, anyway?” Eddie looked around for the man, not spotting him in the heads milling about.

“Outside. Bobby and Michael decided they had to barbecue for tonight’s dinner because Harry and Denny off-handedly mentioned it _once._ ” The older woman rolled her eyes fondly, gesturing towards the patio. Eddie only laughed before following the way she pointed out to go join them, but before he could step out, Chim had wrapped an arm around his shoulders, grinning widely at him.

“What’s with the creepy smile?” Eddie leaned away from him, narrowing his eyes suspiciously.

“I wanted to know how and why you swept Buck off his feet.” Chim was practically bouncing on his heels while Eddie watched him skeptically, even as a smile rose to lips with the reminder. 

“We already told you both of those things. How, by pulling a few strings and why, because I'm in love with him.” He took a step back to gulp down a drag of beer. Over Chimney’s shoulder, he could see Buck and Maddie huddled in the corner, furiously discussing something.

“What’s it like being married to a Buckley?” 

Eddie brought his attention back to Chim, only shaking his head. “To be honest, there’s nothing different about Buck and I besides the rings on our fingers. Not sure I’m the right person to ask.”

“There are two Buckley’s in this world. One of which is already married to you, who else am I supposed to ask?”

“You were ready to marry her long before Buck and I got married. What changed?”

“Oh nothing.” Chim clicked his tongue, grinning wolfishly. “Nothing at all. I just want to know how to sweep her off her feet.”

He only chuckled in response. “You two are working at your own pace, we’re working at ours. But to answer your question, it’s the best feeling in the world.”

“I’m still not completely over this, just saying.” The Asian man informed him with all the air of a prince.

“Better get used to it soon then.” Eddie winked at him before joining Buck and Maddie.

“Eddie!” Maddie swatted at him excitedly as Buck swiped the bottle from his hands, smiling cheekily. “How did you two put this together?”

He only stared at his sister-in-law. “Put what together?”

“You managed to plan an entire wedding in two hours. How?” So Eddie explained how he’d gotten Trevor and Nathan on board, and then had gotten Buck on-board.

“I’m happy for you two.” Maddie smiled, now leaning against Chim who’d come to sit on the armrest of her chair.

“Thank you. Also, let me tell you that Buck put off calling you for three days because he was so scared. We got married on Christmas.” He exacted his own brand of revenge, ignoring his husband’s gasp of betrayal. They hadn’t told them the exact date during the initial phone call, and Eddie doubted Buck had told her now.

His suspicions were confirmed when Maddie glared at her brother, Chimney laughing gleefully.

“This is about Abuela, isn’t it?” Buck nodded his head, seemingly accepting his punishment anyway. He sighed dramatically. “Alas, ‘tis true.”

“You should be scared but your wedding gift can be that I forgive you for eloping and delaying telling me,” Maddie told her brother, looking slightly put off. 

Hen and Karen joined them then, so the four of them shelved that conversation in favour of discussing Chim and Maddie’s vacation. The entire time, Eddie and Buck’s legs stayed pressed against one another’s in a familiar touch. 

“Kids!” Athena called out. There was a single beat of silence before all five kids were rushing out of May’s room chaotically, Nia cradled in May’s arms as she squealed happily. “That goes for you all, too.”

They got up to help set the table, Bobby and Michael bringing in trays of barbecued chicken and burgers. Buck and Hen went towards the kitchen to bring in pre-made trays of salad, macaroni and cheese, homemade garlic bread rolls, herb-roasted baby potatoes and other heavenly dishes. Bobby, Athena and Michael had definitely gone all out, as usual.

“It smells so good,” Karen groaned as she and Eddie set out silverware. “I’m gonna end up inhaling it before we even get to sit down.”

He laughed, agreeing with the sentiment, just as Christopher came around to his side to whisper in his ear.

“May, Harry, Denny and Nia know now.”

“You couldn’t wait until dinner?” Eddie whispered back, only teasing him. With the giggles and knowing looks the other three kids were sending him and Buck, who was now coming out of the kitchen, it would really only be a few minutes before all the beans were spilled.

Christopher only smiled and went to take his seat next to Denny. Eddie watched him go, turning to Buck with a perplexed look. His husband only raised his eyebrows and shrugged.

“Kids these days,” he muttered under his breath as they sat down, a flash of horror taking hold of him as he imagined Christopher, Denny and Harry’s teenage years. Buck only gave Eddie’s hand a quick squeeze as Bobby said a short grace before they dug in. 

The food was amazing and from the multiple voices chiming in to say as much, Bobby’s face was now flushed with all the compliments. Michael swept it all into one encompassing toast to the wonder that was Bobby Nash, turning the captain’s face firetruck red.

However, the secret wasn’t let out of the bag until Buck reached for the tray of pasta with both hands. Almost immediately, Athena smacked the back of Buck’s hand with a wooden serving spoon. “Evan Buckley, that better not be what I think it is.”

Buck only grinned sheepishly, inching closer to Eddie. By now they’d caught everyone’s attention. “Surprise?”

“What is it?” Karen craned her neck around the multiple dishes crowding the table to see what had caught the older woman’s eye.

“Come on, Athena, I was right in front of you when we came in,” Eddie smirked, setting his left hand on the table as well.

It was silent at the table for a very long while. Buck and Eddie exchanged a look before observing everyone else. 

Bobby was staring at them with a surprised look, eyebrows raised. Hen was frozen with a bite halfway to her mouth while Karen was gripping her arm, staring at them with wide eyes. The children were all practically vibrating in their seats while Maddie and Chim were just beaming at them with Cheshire grins. Michael was looking between them and Athena, who was now studying them like she studied perpetrators.

The sergeant’s eyes narrowed as her lips pursed in that very familiar look, looking in between one another. “Well, Bobby and I did the same thing so we’re not ones to talk.”

“Okay, who had a shotgun wedding in the betting pool?” Hen asked, ignoring the couple in favor of looking around the table. They were knocked off-kilter by the dismissal, having come expecting a riot.

“We did!” May piped up, looking very smug. All the children exchanged high-fives as they laughed. Buck narrowed his eyes at Christopher as well, who looked just as smug while Eddie just stared blankly at all of them. 

“No you didn’t, we didn’t have shotgun weddings at all,” Maddie pointed out, shaking her finger at the kids knowingly.

“We had grand gestures, and all four of us voted for that,” Harry argued. 

“Yeah, you don’t get grander than _marrying_ someone,” Denny said. All four of the kids were sitting with their arms crossed now, clearly put off by everyone denying them their win.

“How is this fair? You all have Christopher.” 

Christopher took it all in stride, by just shaking his head silently like Eddie often did. He watched his son, still so confused but amusement tugging at his lips at how terrifyingly he looked like Eddie had at this age. It was scary to think that Christopher would be anything like a teenage Eddie. “All is fair in love and war.”

Buck and Eddie, on the other hand, were sitting in a stupor watching their found family discuss this _bet_ that somehow roped in everyone except the two of them. Including their son.

“Wait, what betting pool?” Eddie asked, looking at everyone sharply. He remembered Chim mentioning it during their video call and directed a glare his way.

“We placed bets on when you two would finally get your sh-stuff together.” Chim stumbled over the almost slip up, looking innocently at all the parents who were now glaring at him.

“Where did my son learn to say ‘all is fair in love and war’ and why did _everyone_ think that we were going to get together?” Eddie asked, reaching for Buck’s hand. The entire table began talking over one another as they threw more and more instances at them.

Ah, there it was.

“Do you really want to get into this again?” Buck asked, bewildered. 

“Okay, okay, we get it.” Eddie raised his voice again. “But it wasn’t Christopher that had decided to have a shotgun wedding, so don’t you all go blaming my son.”

“Yeah, the most he asked was when we were going to get married,” Buck added. It was true.

“Face it guys, the kids won this round,” Karen sighed dramatically. Christopher and May high-fived while Harry and Denny tried valiantly to wolf-whistle their victory

“Now that that’s out of the way…” Bobby trailed off, looking expectedly at the two of them with twin raised eyebrows. Athena only took another sip of wine, studying them over the rim of the glass. “Want to explain?”

So once again, Buck and Eddie delved into the whole story as they ate dinner. Eddie pulled out his phone to show them the wedding photos as they spoke. It was amusing to track all the expressions that flew across everyone’s faces over their respective plates.

When they got to the part about managing to set it all in stone within 5 hours, Eddie was sure that all their eyebrows would fly off their faces.

“You managed to get everything done in 4 hours?!” Hen gasped. “When Karen and I got married, it took us forever just to find a ring. We must’ve gone through at least 30 shops.”

“Yeah and ultimately, we ended back up at the first one.” The other lady snorted, looking fondly at her wife. “The guy at the counter was so cocky when we dragged ourselves back in. He was so creepy but he had the best rings on the block.”

“We pulled for every contact possible, to be honest. Trevor got the license ready, Nathan officiated, Maya took pictures. Thirty minutes in and out of the courthouse, and it was official.” Buck explained.

“When was this exactly?” Michael asked.

Eddie and Buck exchanged a look, wary of their wrath but Christopher clearly had no qualms about the entire ordeal as he happily piped up. “On Christmas!” 

It was silent for exactly 4 seconds before the world exploded. “You’ve been married for a week and we didn’t find out until now?! What is _wrong_ with you?” Karen exclaimed, clutching Hen’s hand tightly. 

“We didn’t even tell Maddie until like...4 days ago.” Buck made a poor attempt to defuse the tension.

“It’s true. And when he did tell me, he didn’t tell me that they got married on Christmas. Eddie told me just now.” Maddie added, sticking her tongue out at her brother. Naturally, Buck had to stick his tongue out too.

“That’s not all though…” Eddie trailed off, looking between Buck and Christopher.

If Christopher bounced in his seat anymore, he’d take off. “Bucky’s my dad now!” 

Buck grinned widely at him, winking at the boy. If anything, the squeals and excitement only got louder as Hen and Michael stood up to clap loudly. Bobby was still staring at them wide-eyed while Athena laughed around her wine glass. 

“I called it first!” Maddie yelled. 

“Nuh-uh, we had to put up with their mutual pining at work, _we_ called it first.” Hen shot back, gesturing between her, Chim and Bobby.

“He’s my brother!” The brother in question rolled his eyes and leaned back in his seat, folding his arms over his chest. Eddie sighed, plopping his head in his hand as he watched the argument get out of hand.

“Children!” Bobby shouted in what they all called his “Dad” voice to get them all to quiet down. Laughter rang at the table. "Do you have any more heart-attack inducing news to share with the class?"

“Okay, we had a couple of valid reasons for not mentioning it until now.” Eddie abandoned his fork to raise his hands placatingly in the air.

“Pray tell,” Athena smirked at him, leaning back in her own chair. 

“The first was that if we’d told you all individually, we wouldn’t get to see all these faces,” Buck said cheekily. “It’s so much more fun this way.”

"For you," Hen scoffed, thoroughly disgruntled.

"Well, we were just going to mail all of you one of our wedding photos and leave it at that, so at least you're being _told_." Buck snarked back.

“The second was more professional,” Eddie continued, looking at Bobby. “We didn’t want to be put on different crews, but wanted to make sure we could still work together. We’re still waiting for the new social security cards to come in before we file any HR paperwork.”

“Honestly, you had me fooled. I had no idea anything changed,” Bobby admitted. They’d worked the three shifts like they always did, their communication only a little better than usual. “But even if something had changed, I wouldn’t be worried about moving you two anywhere else. The five of us work in perfect tandem, there’s no way I can just replace that.”

“Well we had to see it for ourselves too, so it was nice that nothing really changed,” Buck shrugged, moving his hand to Eddie’s thigh. It was a comforting weight, one that Eddie settled his own free hand over.

“A toast, then.” Bobby raised his water glass just as all the others raised their various drinks. The kids were more than excited to join in with their plastic cups of juice, proud to partake in this adult moment. “To the newly enacted Buckley-Diaz family.”

“To the Buckley-Diaz family!” Cheers resonated all around. Even baby Nia was cooing from her baby seat next to Hen, clapping her hands happily with the sounds of everyone else’s excitement. Eddie thought that the grin on his face would be stuck there forever with how elated he was. A quick glance at Buck proved his eyes were sparkling as well, and Christopher was giggling widely, proudly recounting his exciting winter break through bites of pasta.

Once the initial shock wore off, things went a little smoother after that. Simply speaking, there was the station-typical teasing and ribbing from everyone all through dinner. They could tell that the other firefighters were holding back the worst of it to when there wasn’t an audience of _very_ impressionable kids. 

Either way, Buck and Eddie took everything in stride, freely linking their hands together now that it was out in the open.

* * *

As they all fluttered around to clean up after dinner, they exchanged stories about the past shifts, entertaining Chimney who had missed it all. The holidays were a time of utmost crazy all around. Last year had been wild, and this year was no different.

Buck took the newly-gifted freedom to stare at his husband as he moved around the dining table to pick up leftover dishes. He still couldn’t get used to the fact that Eddie was _his_ now; the mere thought had him feeling giddy.

Even distracted by the gorgeousness that was Eddie Buckley-Diaz, Buck continued regaling the room with the unfortunately true story of an attic monger. 

“Okay so when we got there, this lady came up to us with complete indifference to tell us that her husband was pulling out an old box of decorations from the attic when the wooden floor gave way from under him. The man was literally hanging in the ceiling, completely stuck.”

“No way,” Chim breathed in awe, hanging onto Buck’s every word. Chimney loved the wild calls.

“Oh yes way,” Hen chimed in. “Eddie and I held his lower body stable while Buck and Bobby loosened the remaining floorboards so we could get him loaded.”

“And that’s not the craziest part. The wife was sitting in her armchair texting away _the entire time_. She didn’t even look at us as we wheeled her husband out,” Eddie added, shaking his head. “It was wild.”

“As crazy as _that_ sounds, I still vote that I had the best Christmas,” Chimney smirked, casting a heated look in Maddie’s direction. Buck threw a napkin at him, briefly admiring the quick flash of his ring as he did so.

“Ew, that’s still my sister,” he grinned cheekily, mock-shuddering. Karen laughed at his antics. “And Eddie and I had the best Christmas.” He shot his husband a similar look.

“See. Now we have to put up with you and Eddie making even _more_ lovey-dovey faces at each other,” she argued. Buck’s mouth dropped as both of them protested.

“Hey! That’s not true!” they said in unison. There was a beat of smug silence before snickers resounded around the room.

“Point proven!” Chim piped up cheerfully. 

“I hate you all,” Buck muttered under his breath, bending down to pick up an empty straw wrapper. 

“Aww, we love you, Buckaroo.” Hen teased. Eddie patted his back sympathetically on his way to the kitchen, involuntarily bringing a soft smile to his face. He dropped the smile immediately as another series of wolf-whistles resounded, shooting a scathing scowl at Maddie, Hen and Michael. 

“I give up. Good-bye,” he huffed, dragging his now full trash bag out to the bin to escape. Bobby was already tying up a bag outside, looking up when Buck came, angrily muttering under his breath. “They won’t leave me alone in there.”

“It’s a given for the next three months, minimum,” Bobby sympathized, probably speaking from his own experience. “But for what it’s worth, congratulations. You two make an amazing pair, and I’m proud of you.”

His previous anger melted away with Bobby’s sincere words. “Thanks Bobby. Sorry we didn’t tell you before.”

“You’re not mandated to,” his captain smiled. “Though I have to know...are you guys both going by Buckley-Diaz at work?” 

Buck stared at him for a second. “Do you ever stop working, Bobby?”

The older man blushed but laughed it off. “I try to, but can’t help it.”

“We’re going to stick to our respective names professionally, since it’ll be easier.” Buck answered the original question, then cheekily added, “you call us Buckley Diaz, anyway.”

“So that’s where it came from,” Bobby laughed at the quip. “I’m going to do everything in my power to keep you two where you are, don’t worry.” 

Buck set down the bag to hug Bobby, holding him tight. The past three years had been a work in progress for him, but one thing that hadn’t changed was Bobby’s importance in his life. The man had gone from captain, to adviser, to mentor, and then to the closest thing Buck had ever had to a father.

Bobby must have sensed something desperate because he hugged him back just as tight. Buck pulled back to surreptitiously wipe at his eyes before giving Bobby a wide smile.

“I’m going to see if there are any other trash bags to take out,” he said before hightailing it out of there, mildly embarrassed.

Of all his found family, Bobby’s approval meant the most to him and it meant the world that he had it. 

Buck was happy.

* * *

He should’ve known that Eddie’s revenge was going to be multi-parted. The second he came back inside, Eddie flashed Buck a shit-eating grin before opening his mouth.

“Hey Maddie, Buck said that you’d be _honored_ to share stories from his childhood.”

Maddie laughed at the stricken look on her brother’s face. “Another revenge, I’m guessing.”

“His sister and cousins told me like...two things about him and now he’s out for blood.” Buck grumbled.

“No, it wasn’t just two things.” Eddie pointed out, wielding a mop handle in his direction. “Abuela and Sophia made sure to spill all the details of my life to him. There’s no mystery left to me anymore.”

“There is no way _that_ was everything about you, and half of it was stuff I already knew. Why didn’t anyone warn me that he was this petty _before_ I married him?” He whined. Micheal only gave him a deadpan look.

“Besides the fact that you’re bringing Eddie’s best out in him, we didn’t even _know_ you were getting married.”

“Good point,” Athena crowed. “Maddie, tell us.”

“How about the rooster story?”

Buck winced at the sheer reminder, but glared at his sister. “You tell _anyone_ that story and I tell them about the wisdom teeth incident,” he threatened, now smiling winningly at her. Maddie put her hands up in surrender.

“Okay, so no rooster story. It’s okay, we have a thousand others to choose from.” All the cleaning was now abandoned in favour of listening to her raptly.

“I hate you,” he mumbled to Eddie, who’d come over to sling an arm around his waist.

“I hate you, too,” he whispered cheerfully before turning his attention back to Maddie. Buck sighed, stifling a smile.

“Okay so Buck was an amazing basketball player in school. Literally, he was one of the top players. But he had to have practiced somewhere, and that was in his bedroom.”

“Okay, no,” he argued, then conceded the truth gallantly. “That is...only partially true.” 

Maddie ignored him. “So Buck can spin a basketball on his finger alarmingly well. And one day, he decided to see if he could toss it up higher than normal and keep it spinning on his finger when it came back down, and instead of _that_ , he ended up taking out the entire ceiling fan."

Buck groaned, hiding his face in his laughing husband’s shoulder. “It was an _accident_.”

“We literally ran straight to the closest hardware store to find a new ceiling fan to install before Mom and Dad came back from their trip.” His sister was enjoying herself far too much. “Imagine, I hear this LOUD noise and a 12-year-old Evan is sitting on his bed, stunned at what had just happened.”

“It hit one of the blades, and I’m still not sure why the entire thing fell on me.” He hadn’t gotten terribly hurt by it, just shocked more than anything else.

“So the accident-prone thing is a childhood habit?” Chim ribbed good-naturedly. Buck shrugged and nodded.

“Probably, yeah.”

“Well...put your skill through its paces.” Michael tossed him a basketball from one of Harry and May’s sports bins. Buck grinned and dislodged himself from Eddie.

“You break anything in this house, you pay for it,” Bobby warned. Buck only waved him off before throwing the ball up a couple of inches, sending it spinning with a quick flick of his wrist. A second later, it was balanced on the tip of his right index finger, spinning just as smoothly as it did all those years ago.

Buck smirked at the room as the minutes ticked by, lightly slapping the ball to keep it going. Eddie was leaning against the counter, watching him with The Look **™** , the one that promised great things for him tonight. The position his husband was standing in, looking all delectable and coupled with that thought made Buck flush.

He stopped the ball after a bit and cocked an eyebrow at the room. A few slow claps, and another round of laughter, and that was that. 

Point proven.

The night flew by just like this, them exchanging stories and talking about their lives. They had just-barely managed to finish dessert before the crowd started to disperse. The second Nia fell asleep, Hen and Karen were bidding the room goodbye. Denny was scrubbing at his eyes next to his moms, looking just as exhausted as his little sister. 

Hen hugged Buck a little tighter, whispering in his ear. “See, I told you he’d never ask you to stay away from him.”

He was surprised but laughed anyway. “The Mother Hen intuition strikes again,” he teased, earning a soft swat in return. He was grateful for his family, but even more for Hen, who’d been there for him since the very start, even if she hadn’t been sold on his lack of discipline.

Weird really, where four years had taken him.

“Take care of each other, you hear?” Karen said sternly, popping an eyebrow to look between them. Eddie and Buck nodded dutifully.

With the Wilsons’ departure, dessert polished off, and everyone caught up on all the latest gossip from the past two weeks, there was no reason to dwell any longer. Maddie and Chim bounced first, while Eddie went to get Christopher from May’s room.

They were just thanking Athena for the hospitality when Bobby came back into the living room, holding a small carved box. 

Athena looked knowingly at him but let herself fall silent as the two turned towards their captain.

He looked to be finding words, so they stayed silent, giving him the space. Buck studied him quietly. Finally, Bobby looked up at them, a strange look on his face.

“You two don’t have to accept this, but ever since you walked into the station four years ago Buck, a punk of a kid that I couldn’t help but be fond of, I don’t know where, but somewhere along the line, I-”

They’d never seen him like this before and it was unsettling.

“I began to see you as my son,” he said, looking up with suspiciously glassy eyes. Buck’s heart stopped in his chest as his jaw slackened, sucking in a sharp breath. He hadn’t known that Bobby saw him with the same relationship he saw his captain, even though they joked about it all the time. “I know you’re not having the whole ceremony, but I’d like you two to have this. Something old for luck. It’s a family heirloom that one day, I hope you can pass down to Christopher.”

Bobby passed them the box, stepping back to shove his hands in his pockets. Buck didn’t have any words for how floored he was right now, and a glance at Eddie proved that he was just as struck. Christopher only looked confused.

He gave the box to Eddie before lunging to hug Bobby tightly again. “Thank you, Bobby. This means the world to us. I’m honored that you’re my father figure.”

“Proud of you, kiddo.” Bobby clapped him on his back. The two men separated, surreptitiously wiping their eyes. Eddie stepped forward to hug and thank Bobby too while Buck only went over to Athena, grinning widely.

“Hi, Mom,” he laughed as Athena swatted at him. Eddie and Bobby started laughing too, shaking their heads at them.

“Boy, do not make me arrest you.” Buck didn’t pay any heed to her words as he wrapped her into a hug too.

“Thank you,” he whispered in her ear. She only smiled against his shoulder, patting his back.

“You and Eddie are amazing together. Don’t mess this up, or you’ll have the entire police department on you. That goes for both of you,” Athena looked pointedly between them. It was as close to a shovel talk as they were going to get.

Buck and Eddie only smiled sheepishly, still hand in hand.

* * *

Eddie was the one to drive home, while Buck played with the fingers that were resting on the gear shift. In the back, Christopher was yawning widely before they’d even gotten home, and yet...

“Can we all stay up until the ball drops? Please?” He pulled out the puppy dog eyes that Eddie vehemently believed he’d gotten from Buck. The kid knew that they worked on both Buck _and_ Eddie, and used it to his full advantage, to the point that both men had to stop looking at him to make sure they didn’t spoil him.

They weren't even completely in the house yet when Christopher's request came through.

Buck watched as Eddie hesitated, but hid his surprise when he tossed a questioning look towards him. That was something that he was still going to have to get used to: being roped into parenting decisions.

Taking Chris out of his routine for one day wouldn’t necessarily hurt, provided that he got up at an acceptable time in the morning. 

Buck came over to them. “It’s New Years. We can handle it if he manages to stay up until 12.” It was nearing 9 now, and they were inching closer to Christopher’s normal bedtime. It was highly likely that he would be fast asleep by 10:30, despite all his efforts.

Now the thing the young boy didn’t realize was that New York was a full 3 hours behind LA, so it would be only 10 minutes before the ball dropped. Still, they entertained him.

“You still have to get up no later than 8 tomorrow morning,” Eddie looked pointedly at him. Chris cheered and crutched his way down the hallway to change into pajamas.

Buck took advantage of the quick moment to pull Eddie close into a searing kiss. “I’ve been waiting all evening to do that.” 

Eddie laughed against his mouth, sweetly kissing back. “Me too.” 

“I was going to hold out for 12 o’clock, but couldn’t wait. Too irresistible,” he murmured against his husband’s cheek, smiling at the sound of Eddie’s deep chuckle.

“Should’ve seen yourself with that basketball. Irresistible, huh?” There was far too much heat in Eddie’s words for where the two of them were standing. An arm came around Buck’s waist to keep him close, strong fingers easily fitting into the curve of his waist as if made for him. The thought made him beam wider.

“You have no idea.” He pressed one last placating kiss at the corner of his mouth just as he heard the clack of an overeager ten-year-old’s crutches.

“Gross,” came the declaration from Christopher, who moved to plop down on the sofa. Eddie only shook his head at his son as Buck went to change into more comfortable clothes, laughing the whole way.

“What was the thing Uncle Bobby gave you?” Christopher asked as they settled in to turn on the TV, flipping to FOX to watch Steve Harvey in Times Square.

Eddie picked up the box from where it had been resting on the side table, passing it to Buck. “Definitely Grandpa Bobby at this point. Thought you should open it.”

“It was sweet of Bobby to do this,” Buck whispered, running a finger along the wooden edge of the box. He opened it to find a vintage pocket watch nestled on a satin pillow, complete with its own chain. “Eddie, it’s _beautiful_.”

There was an engraving on the lid that read _‘till the end of time_ , clearly written between two loved ones, evident by the small heart next to the words. The dull metal was carefully kept, and Buck wondered just how many times Bobby must’ve pulled it out to keep it preserved, praying that he’d be able to give it to his own children.

It hurt that Bobby Jr and Brook wouldn’t get to see this, and in some weird way, Buck felt like he’d lost them too, that he’d missed out on an opportunity to become a pseudo big brother to them, the way he was with May, Denny and Harry. On the other hand, it was an honor he wouldn’t have even imagined that first day he walked into the 118.

He’d seen Bobby mourn for his wife and children, had witnessed the man pray in gratitude for getting a family back. To see him standing in front of Buck and Eddie today, so freely giving them the heirloom for their own son had cemented a lot of things in place for him. Suddenly, Buck was sure of his place in his captain’s life, which went far beyond a mentor/mentee relationship.

“What is that?” Chris craned to see it. Buck set the box carefully in his lap, feeling a surge of happiness and pride as he watched the young boy critically look over the heirloom. “Oh, it’s pretty. Are you going to wear it?”

“If we had a traditional wedding, I probably would have. If we ever have a reception, I think I’ll wear it then.”

“But why did he give it to you?” 

“It’s a tradition to give the person getting married something old, like a necklace or something. For good luck,” Eddie answered, looking over at Buck to squeeze his shoulder, as if aware of the thoughts running through his mind. 

“I like it,” he decided before moving the box over to his lap again, bouncing eagerly as the countdown started. 

“That’s good, kid, because someday it’s going to be yours,” Buck managed to say, already knowing this truth in his bones. 

_6...5...4...3...2...1...Happy New Year!_

The sounds of confetti blasters and cheers of people came over the speakers. Eddie pulled Buck in for a playful kiss over Christopher’s head, ignoring the peals of begrudged laughter beneath them. Christopher started tickling Buck to get them to stop, which only led to more laughter as he squirmed away.

“Gross, Dad!” 

“Hey, you wanted me to marry Buck and this comes with the package. Deal with it.” Eddie blew a raspberry on his son’s cheek before scooping him up, jerking his head at Buck in a gesture to follow. “Now it’s off to bed with you, mister.”

He insisted on a bedtime story too, so they cuddled in tightly on the bed, alternating the voices. Buck had damn near fallen off the bed the first time he’d heard Eddie read to his son all those months ago, and even now, the rasp of Eddie’s voice did him in a thousand times over.

As they kissed Christopher’s forehead and switched the light off, a sleepy voice came from the bed. “You two can’t trick me. Don’t forget to kiss at midnight. For good luck.”

Buck and Eddie only stared at each other, stifling their laughter as Christopher’s soft snuffles filled the quiet of the room. The kid was way too smart for anyone’s good. 

“You heard him,” Buck whispered as they walked back to their room. “What he says, goes.”

“You spoil him, but I think I win in this scenario so I’ll let it slide. Just this once.” Eddie hooked his hands behind Buck’s neck, drawing him in for a long kiss as they fell back onto the bed. “Did I mention how hot you look with a basketball?”

“Of all things, _that_ gets you going?” He laughed, hands ghosting along Eddie’s sides to keep him close.

“Everything about you gets me going, Evan Buckley-Diaz,” Eddie whispered in a voice dripping with desire, which had him flushing to his toes again. Eddie pulled him into a long kiss, pressing his love onto Buck’s skin ardently.

Two and a half hours later, he did it again as they lay lazily together under the covers, Buck tracing patterns on Eddie’s chest as the faint sounds of fireworks came from outside. His husband had already put earbuds in so the sounds didn’t trigger him.

“Thank you for being my miracle,” Eddie whispered against his lips, playing with the ring on Buck’s finger. Buck only smiled, holding his husband just a little bit tighter as the new year rang in around them.

Yeah, they were pretty lucky.

After all, what were miracles for?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't believe this fic is over! I'm definitely not done with this universe yet, by the way, so there will be some excerpts from their married life coming through. If y'all have any ideas, feel free to let me know! 
> 
> You can find me on [Tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/zeethebooknerd) or [Twitter](https://twitter.com/tkreyesevandiaz)
> 
> I do hope you all enjoyed this fic! Kudos and Comments make my day! :D <3

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you guys for reading! <3
> 
> You can find me on Tumblr at [zeethebooknerd](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/zeethebooknerd) or on Twitter at [tkreyesevandiaz](https://twitter.com/tkreyesevandiaz).


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